Closer
by summerlily028
Summary: During the summer of Harry's 5th year, Jade Heywood joins him and his friends in their quest against Lord Voldemort. This is the story about a girl who tries to find her way through love and war as the Wizarding World is pushed to its limits.
1. Chapter 1

Jade was nervous. She was walking down a dark alley, deeply hidden in the labyrinth of grimy streets and abandoned squares in the city of London. Even though it was a night in the middle of August, a thick fog lay over the entire city and only the blurred light of the street lamps was guiding her through the dripping mist. For a moment she thought she saw a figure flattening itself into the shadows and the young witch tightened her hand around the slender piece of wood inside the pocket of her cloak as every little noise or motion continued to send chills down her spine.

She wondered whether her fear still was reasonable. After all, what were the odds of a Death Eater popping up along her way? But still, she simply wasn't used to travelling alone and these were dangerous times. A few weeks ago Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, had seen You-Know-Who return back to life. And unfortunately the majority of the Wizarding World was not believing him, but instead ridiculing not only the boy, but also his headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and anyone who would believe it.

During the First War Jade's family had been part of the Order of the Phoenix and there had been sacrifices: Her parents were killed by Death Eaters only a month before the Dark Lord fell. Ever since that day she had been living with her aunt and uncle, who had raised her like their own child.

But having lost his only brother, her uncle became very overprotective and was not willing to send her to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when she was eleven. He never believed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had gone for good and was just too afraid that something would happen to this little girl, that he loved so dearly.

She remembered how incredibly disappointed she had been back then. Having read "Hogwarts – A History" over and over again, she couldn't wait to see the castle, which had sheltered so many great wizards. She had been so terribly excited to leave for school with her best friend and to meet other young witches and wizards. She already knew quite a few as her family was one of the old pureblood families, but she was so intrigued to meet Muggleborns and learn more about them.

But there had been no avail in arguing with her aunt and uncle about it. And so she had watched her best friend leave without her. She still remembered him standing in front of her on platform nine-three-quarters next to the red steam engine, giving her one last hug and promising to write to her each day until he came back again. It was a promise, he had never broken, until this very year. Back then she had watched her friend leave, waving at him until the train had vanished from sight and little tears had spilled out of eyes in a mixture of sadness and childish jealousy.

And so, for the last four years, Jade had been homeschooled by her aunt and uncle. They had taught her everything that she needed to know according to the Howgarts' curriculum and even more, concentrating immensely on the Defence against Dark Arts. And even though her uncle would never perform dark magic himself, he showed her many books about the most evil and dreadful curses and Jade had imbibed them all in her young mind..."just in case", like her uncle always said.

But now it was the year she was supposed to take her O.W.L.s and finally her aunt and uncle had agreed that she was prepared enough to leave for school and take the exams there. Furthermore now that the Dark Lord was back again for sure, maybe Hogwarts was a safe place to be as Dumbledore was securing the castle more than ever.

And so it came that on this August night she was walking down Grimmauld Place, clutching at a piece of parchment on the search of house No. 12. Her Aunt was already inside the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, probably watching her right now through a window. She had dropped her off just at the end of the street by side-along-apparition and then returned to their house to get her luggage into Grimmauld Place No.12 by using the Floo Network.

Jade couldn't travel there by Floo yet as she had never been told the location by the Secret Keeper until in a few seconds. Finally she reached No. 13 and held the piece of parchment up to her eyes:

"_The Headquarters of The Order Of The Phoenix might be found at Grimmauld Place No.12, London_"

And suddenly light struggled out to her through the fog as a grimy house seemed to squeeze itself right were No.12 should be. It looked incredibly old and uncared for and somehow she could sense that it had a dark history.

Hastily, she took the few steps up to the entrance door and just as she was about to knock, it opened, revealing her aunt with a finger pressed across her lips. Motioning her to come in and closing the door behind her, her aunt led her through a dark corridor.

The first thing Jade noticed was the umbrella stand right next to the door, which was made of what seemed to have once been a troll's leg. This first impression was probably enough to tell her what kind of house this was. Along the walls many portraits were hung, which were now eyeing her conspicuously and muttering to each other. As she passed one of them, which was covered by old curtains, she could hear it snoring loudly.

Her aunt opened a door on the right of the corridor and led Jade into a well-lit kitchen. Inside there was a large group of people, obviously preparing dinner and chattering loudly. She only recognized a few of them. There was Remus Lupin, an old acquaintance of her uncle, Molly and Arthur Weasley, whom she had once met on her Aunt's thirtieth birthday party several years ago, Sirius Black, a face almost every witch and wizard would recognize after his escape from Azkaban, and of course Harry Potter, a dark-haired boy sitting at the far end of the room, trying to avoid being knocked over by a steaming pot, which was being shakily levitated by one of the many redheads in the room.

They fell silent as they saw the newcomer and Jade quickly started to feel quite uncomfortable, being the centre of everybody's attention. Molly Weasley came forward, a very motherly look on her face.

"Jade, my dear, it is so good to see you again! Let me introduce you to everybody!" she smiled at her and rubbed her upper arm reassuringly; obviously she could sense that Jade wasn't used to being in a group of strangers. "Well, I guess you remember my husband Arthur…" Mrs Weasley went on and Jade followed her around the table shaking hands and exchanging some words of greeting.

In addition to the people she had already recognized, she was introduced to Nymphadora Tonks, who made a face at the sound of her full name and insisted that everyone should just call her Tonks. Then she met several Weasleys including the twins Fred and George, who eyed her with a curious glint in their eyes, Ronald or "only Ron" as he said, a very tall boy with a long nose and a freckled face, and finally the only daughter Ginevra, who also didn't like her full name as much and offered "Ginny" with a small smile.

Then she met Hermione Granger, a girl with bushy hair and very clever-looking eyes, who stood up straight as she was introduced and offered a confident handshake.

After meeting everybody, Jade took her seat as directed by Mrs. Weasley right between Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. Hermione immediately started the conversation:

"Jade, now that you are starting Hogwarts, do you already know which year you will be placed in? I guess it would be fifth year, as that is O.W.L. year, and you are going to take the exams this year, right?" The words were spilling out of her mouth at top-speed and Jade turned towards her while answering. "Well, actually two weeks ago I did some exams sent to me by Professor McGonagall, so they could figure out if I really fit in fifth year. But I will get my results not until the term starts. I hope I didn't fail. I really don't want to be placed below fifth year."

Hermione nodded sympathetically and said almost with a hint of envy "Well, if I were you, I wouldn't rack my brains over it. I mean, you basically had a private tutor for the last years, which means that you could go through a lot more at a higher speed than we did in our large classes."

"Well, I guess you're right. I just fear that maybe my uncle had other priorities than those in the curriculum. I know that there were several books I actually never read in the first place. If I remember rightly, it was something from the second year literature by that Lockhart bloke. My uncle really didn't approve of his books."

"Oh, in that case you didn't miss a thing. His books rather resembled fiction that actual own experience." Hermione said with a knowing smile. As the dinner went on, Jade and Hermione shared a rather animated conversation and Jade somehow was relieved. She had dreaded that she would come here and wouldn't get along with anyone.

* * *

During the next few days Jade and the other occupants of Grimmauld Place helped Mrs. Weasley in her quest to make the house inhabitable again. It was full of dark and rather dangerous objects and cleaning it was a very difficult task. Slowly she got to know everybody more and more.

She slept in a room with Ginny and Hermione, and although she wasn't sure whether she really liked Ginny yet, she practically loved Hermione already. They had many things in common: they were both studious, interested in many same things and bonded heavily over shared beliefs on house-elves, even though Kreacher, the Black's house-elf, was a very unappealing representative of his species.

The twins acted really friendly towards her and they always made her laugh so hard that the muscles in her stomach would be sore the next day. Sometimes it was like a real competition between them to prove who the funnier one was. If she had to chose, she would say Fred, as he was a hint more sarcastic and she really loved his evil humour.

The only person, she had not yet really talked much to, was Ron. Somehow he was kind of silent around her and most of the times when he did say something, the twins would make fun of him. Well, Jade thought, in that case she really wouldn't want to talk too much either. Their jokes could be biting, bordering on insulting, at times.

With Harry she had shared some rather serious conversations. About some things that were going on and somehow she already trusted him. He was a guy, who seemed to be much older than he really was, due to the heavy burden he was carrying. She already made a promise in her heart that she would support this young man until the end. She knew how serious everything would be eventually. And she hadn't read all those books and secretly practiced all those dark spells for nothing. Deeply hidden in her heart there was the thirst for vengeance. And when the time came, she would seek it.


	2. Chapter 2

One night, about ten days after her arrival, some of the teenagers gathered in Ron and Harry's room. They used to meet up there almost every night and the others would tell Jade all the stories about their first years in school, from the Philosopher's stone, to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets and to the tragic incident at the Triwizard Tournament.

This night Fred and George had snuck off to somewhere to examine the Doxies, they had found in the drawing room that day. While Hermione was reading a book on Harry's bed, keen on getting ahead of class before it had even started, Ginny sat on the floor and played with Ron's tiny owl called Pig. On the other bed Harry and Ron had set up a game of chess, at which Harry was currently losing as another one of his peasants was getting his head chopped off by Ron's Queen.

Jade was looking out through the window, even though the sight wasn't particularly interesting. A thought was going through her mind for days now. Finally she took a deep breath and turned around.

"I.. I need to ask you something" She said. "Maybe you never heard of him, after all there is the possibility that he went to Durmstrang. But is there a boy in Hogwarts by the last name of 'Malfoy'? "

The reaction of the room was distinct: Ron looked kind of disgusted, Harry's forehead showed worried creases and Ginny was trying to stuff Pig's beak with an owl treat to stop his excited twittering. Hermione's face instantly sank; and so did Jade's heart.

"Okay.." Jade sighed and continued "I guess I can stop hoping I will never meet that devil's offspring. I just conclude from your looks that he is not very amiable."

"He's a right git! Everybody would agree on that, I guess." Ron growled with Ginny nodding her head eagerly. "A downright Slytherin with all it takes." He added.

Now Harry chimed in, his interest being aroused "Why do you ask about Malfoy?"

Jade took another deep breath; she knew that she would have to tell them sooner or later. Why not make it sooner? She sat down on the bed next to Hermione and started with her story:

"During the first War there were many losses on our side and as you all know many children lost their parents, like Harry and me. It was a few weeks before You-Know-Who's downfall that my parents' house was attacked by Death Eaters. They had protected it with the Fidelius Charm, but their secret keeper had died days before and with the death of the secret keeper the security of that Charm drops significantly. Every person, who has been told the secret, becomes a secret keeper himself.

And so, many Death Eaters attacked that night and my parents were alone to fight them. After the fight had started my aunt came over to their house for one of her regular visits and my mother only told her to get me out of the house and take a portkey, that had been placed next to my bed for emergencies. My mother wouldn't have left my father to fight the Death Eaters alone and together they wouldn't have made it up to my nursery. But my Aunt wouldn't leave either. She just took me and the portkey and went back to the staircase, firing spells down at the Death Eaters from there. They fought valiantly and soon several injured Death Eaters had fled, there were only two of them left unscathed. And seeing that they wouldn't win on their own, one of them called their master.

"The last thing my aunt saw was my mother turning towards her, casting a spell that immediately took her and me away with the portkey." Jade paused for a moment in order to collect herself again. Even though she had told the story with a cold look on her face, deep inside her was a huge mix of emotions: mourning mixed with helplessness and bubbling fury. But she almost never showed it. She always shut these emotions off and never wanted to appear weak in front of anyone. She had never been a girl who cried easily and always tried to push those feelings away.

She continued "So why do I ask about Malfoy? The Death Eater, who called his master, had lost his mask."

Jade clenched her hands to fists, as the fury that she kept deep inside her welled up. Staring at the wall behind Harry and Ron she said "Honestly, I don't know what I am going to do when I see this Malfoy kid. He is supposed to be my age.. His father needs to get payback for what he did. I just.." And suddenly she couldn't take it any longer; she stood up and left the room. Hot, angry tears were rolling down her face. She quickly made her way to the nearest bathroom and locked herself in it.

Merlin, why was she getting so worked up about it? She knew this was coming sooner or later, didn't she? But if she was honest with herself, she knew the reason for her reaction. In a few weeks she would meet the boy, whose father had killed her parents. She didn't even know his first name, as that would only have made him more real. And now that it was getting so near and inevitable, she was scared. She was scared of seeing him and she was scared of how it would make her feel.

On the one hand she had this terrible anger inside her, this hatred and thirst for revenge, but on the other hand she felt small, alone and vulnerable. She just didn't know how to handle the situation.

Jade rested her hands on the edge of the sink and took a look into the grimy mirror. She didn't recognize herself like that, but somehow there had been a change in her. Where did all the anger come from?

She was just done pulling herself back together, when there was a knock on the door. It was Harry.

"Jade.. Are you alright?"

She shot another quick glance into the mirror, making sure you couldn't tell she had shed some tears and opened the door. Harry looked earnestly worried.

"Don't worry about me, Harry." she said, "I'm alright. The thought of seeing him just really bothers me."

Harry hugged her like a friend would do. "Of course. I understand. But we will be around when that time comes. And we will look out for you."

With these words somehow a heavy weight was lifted from her shoulders. Maybe she was not so alone after all.

* * *

Soon the day of Harry's Ministry Hearing came closer. He had fought off Dementors in Little Whinging by using the Patronus Charm and thereby had broken several laws. So now he needed to defend himself in front of the Wizengamot so that he would not get expelled from Hogwarts.

A few days before the hearing, Jade overheard Sirius in a heated discussion with Mr. Weasley in the kitchen. Apparently Sirius wanted to accompany Harry to the Ministry, which bewildered Jade slightly as he was one of the most sought-after wizards in the country. But then he said something which explained his idea to Jade:

"I will be in my Animagus form. Nobody would know it was me, Arthur!"

But Mr. Weasley was not convinced and answered in a stern voice "Sirius, Pettigrew knows all about you being an Animagus and, I am sure, so do all the other Death Eaters by now. Walking into the Ministry as a dog would be like walking right into Azkaban itself. The Ministry is full of followers of You-Know-Who! Just today I saw Lucius Malfoy walking right into the Minister's Office! You should put that idea right out of your mind! Nevertheless you can talk to Dumbledore about it. Let him have the final decision."

Sirius only grunted and left the kitchen nearly knocking Jade over, who was still lingering on the threshold. He looked surprised for a moment, then made a step around her and walked up the staircase, a bitter look on his face.

So he was an Animagus! Becoming an Animagus was something Jade had always dreamed of since she was little. During the last years she had tried over and over, read every book on the subject, but simply was not succeeding. The thing about trying to become an Animagus was that you could not decide which animal you transformed into. Your personality and inner traits already determined the animal, you would become. And she just had no idea what animal her character seemed to be like. The most she had ever achieved in transforming was a very ugly and painful loss of her ears, which had somehow disappeared from their usual spot leaving an open wound. And instead she had grown weird little stumps on top of her head. It had bled like crazy and her aunt, who luckily was nearby, immediately ran over to heal her.

She remembered that this had happened when she tried to transform into a cat. And she didn't dare trying to transform again after that incident. But now she had the slight hope that maybe Sirius could help her. He was an Animagus after all and she had never talked to someone, who actually succeeded in becoming one. And so she quickly followed him up the stairs and found him in the drawing room, staring spitefully at the old tapestry with the Black family tree upon it.

"Excuse me, Mr Black..? I really didn't want to eavesdrop but.. actually, I overheard a part of your conversation, the part with you being an Animagus. And I just couldn't stop myself. It is something that really fascinates me and I have tried to transform during the last years. But somehow I just cannot figure out which animal I should try to take form of. I thought that maybe you could give me some advice." She smiled hopefully at him.

He turned to look fully at her, as if he was sizing her up and calculating if he should even bother to help. Then he smiled a roguish smile. "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do, actually. This bloody tapestry will not budge an inch anyway. So tell me, how far are you? What did you already try?" He moved over to the old sofa and sat down, propping his feet up one the old cushions and looking at her expectantly.

"To be honest: I tried everything. I really prepared myself for two years and then I tried to morph. But I just don't know in which way. I always thought I was going to be a horse you know " Well, now she was getting embarrassed.. hastily she added "They always were my favourite animals and I really enjoy riding. But I could stand in a stable with hay in my mouth, making nickering noises and nothing would happen! I just don't feel like a horse, it's weird. So I tried all of the usual animals. I tried feeling like a dog, a bird and I even took a bath and tried to feel my fishtail. It's exhausting!"

"Did nothing happen? Never? That would either mean that you are not ready to morph or that you just didn't find the right animal." Sirius said.

"Well, one time something happened" Jade said uncomfortably, Sirius looked intrigued now."I was trying to become a cat. And somehow I could kind of feel it, it sounds weird, I know. But then either out of my own excitement or because it was still wrong, something very painful happened. I kind of lost my ears and it wasn't pleasant."

"So there you have it!" Sirius said triumphantly, "Obviously your Animagus form is something like a cat! You could have figured that out on your own! And really, thinking that someone out of a family of true Gryffindors would become a horse is somehow naïve. Horses are the most anxious animals; and just because you like them really doesn't mean you can be one."

Slowly Jade nodded, feeling kind of stupid. "But why did it go so terribly wrong? I never tried it again after that incident. It really hurt horribly."

"Yeah, I remember once having a small incident like that myself. It happened because you did not know how to properly feel like a cat back then. You never had ears like a cat, so how should you know how that feels? Same goes with your fur or tail. It will take some time and very deep concentration to transform. I suggest that before you try it a second time, you should try to daydream. Something like hunting a mouse in a hayloft, you know. Something typical for a cat, where its true instincts come out. So that you can try to get to know how it feels before your ears fall off." He chuckled at her.

"Okay, thanks." She smiled a genuine smile at him."I will try that. I guess I should be glad that I'm not a horse after all. They are just so huge. More difficult to transform into and much more conspicuous than a little cat."

* * *

This night, even though she felt a bit silly, she really lay in bed and tried to hunt a mouse in an old hayloft. And it didn't feel weird, but kind of natural. The next morning Jade awoke, having a sudden epiphany. She quickly got ready and hurried down to the kitchen, sitting down next to Sirius, who was having some toast and his morning tea while reading some magazine.

He turned to look at her as if he had been expecting something like that. "Good Morning, Jade! I guess you had an interesting night by the look of it."

She smiled excitedly. "Actually, I had a dream. I guess, I'm not an ordinary cat after all. While I did dream about hunting something, it was not in a hayloft, but rather in some forest. And judging by the sounds I heard, it was not a forest here in Britain, but a much more tropical one.

"You know, somehow it really figures. My family was not so keen on marrying their own family members back in the old days. So they kept marrying pure-blooded wizards from all over the world. Especially from Spain and _Brazil_."

Sirius nodded "So it's not a house cat, but maybe something bigger. You're definitely going in the right direction."

Jade smiled and was happy that she had finally gotten a step closer to her goal. It was an idea, her uncle had planted in her head. He had taught her so many techniques to defend herself. The only big, remaining question was: What happened when you lost your wand in combat?

Wandless magic was mostly accidental and couldn't be controlled easily, so you shouldn't rely on that to happen. But if you were an Animagus, you could still transform without a wand. And even if Jade only turned into a mosquito, she could still escape from dangerous situations. Or even from Azkaban like Sirius (Hermione had told her this story).

* * *

On the day of Harry's Hearing everybody was quite nervous back in Grimmauld Place, while they awaited his return. Obviously Harry had the Law on his side, but since the papers had dragged his name in the mud and made him look like an attention-seeking madman, they had a reason to be afraid that the judges would be hard on him.

Finally Harry and Mr. Weasley, who had accompanied him to the Ministry, arrived back with good news: he had been cleared of all charges. The kitchen exploded in elation, only Sirius did not seem to be as ecstatic as everybody else. He clearly had hoped somewhere in his heart that Harry would be expelled and living with him from now on.


	3. Chapter 3

On the last morning before the start of school term the official letters from Hogwarts arrived, bearing great news: Hermione and Ron had been made prefects. While it had been highly obvious that Hermione would be made a prefect, Jade noticed that everybody seemed to be surprised that the male choice didn't land on Harry, but on Ron.

That evening Mrs. Weasley prepared a little party, celebrating the newly-made prefects, and invited many members of the Order. This was the first time Jade met Mad-Eye Moody, an Auror she had heard many intimidating stories about. He seemed to be fond of her in a way and showed her and Harry an old picture of the original formation of the Order of the Phoenix. Their parents were waving up at them from the old photograph, smiling and hugging each other. Somehow it made her feel sad to see them all together like this; it made her much more aware of the loss her family and Harry had gone through. But at the same time it made her bond even closer with the raven-haired boy.

* * *

The next morning it was time to travel to King's Cross station. Jade became more and more excited, thinking about finally going to Hogwarts. She did take more time than she usually would in the bathroom; she knew that there was only one chance for a first impression. So she took a quick shower, dried her hair with her wand and tamed her waves a bit, so they would fall nicely. Her aunt was quite the typical "Witch Weekly"-witch, knowing everything about beauty spells and potions, creams and make-up. So she had learned a lot from her and her aunt's best friend Mrs. Zabini. And the most important rule was quite simple: stay away from any kind of glamour spells. They would only charm you pretty temporarily and slowly made you 'addicted'; it really was a vicious circle.

But Jade preferred to look natural anyway. And so she only did her makeup with a light hand and when she was ready, she took out her favourite perfume and sprayed once. One last look in the mirror and she was ready to go.

They travelled to King's Cross by foot, accompanied by several Aurors and Sirius in his Animagus form of a big black dog.

After they arrived at platform nine and three-quarters and said their Goodbyes to everyone, they boarded the train. Fred and George immediately left, mumbling something about "business", while Hermione and Ron also left for the Prefect's compartment. That only left Harry, Ginny and Jade to look for a compartment in the steadily filling train. On their way through the different carriages they met a round-faced boy their age, who was introduced by the name of Neville Longbottom. Of course, Jade had heard about the fate of Alice and Frank Longbottom and somehow this made her like Neville immediately, even though he was incredibly clumsy with his luggage and carried a very odd-looking plant in his hand.

Finally they found an almost empty compartment with only one passenger inside it; it was a girl. She was holding "The Quibbler" (a magazine consisting of rubbish in Jade's opinion) upside down and had stuck her wand behind her ear for safe-keeping. To top that first impression she wore a necklace of butterbeer corks and something similar to radishes as earrings. Jade couldn't help but look out of the window to prevent her from giving the girl an odd look. She had often been told that she came across arrogant and she believed that it had something to do with the way she looked at others. Sending dark stares was kind of her specialty. But here in Hogwarts she wanted to start fresh and only be mean to those, who really deserved it. The girl was introduced by Ginny as Luna Lovegood and somehow did not get less weird after the first few sentences they exchanged.

* * *

Somewhere in between Luna talking about how Wrackspurts would make her brain go fuzzy and Neville's Mimbulus Mimbletonia squirting Stinksap all over the compartment, Jade figured it was time to make a trip to the lavatory. She didn't really need to go, but she wanted to escape this compartment of awkwardness for a moment and check out the other students on her way there.

She walked slowly down the main corridor of the train, while inconspicuously throwing glances into the different compartments. Hogwarts really had many students and from her girl's eye opinion there were several nice looking lads in here. After all she had reached that age in July, namely 15, where she kind of wanted a boyfriend. Until now she never had a real boyfriend, only something indefinable a few months ago, that ended before it even began, but brought her first 'real' kiss upon her. Unfortunately it hadn't been so great. (She had received 'technical' first kiss at the age of 12, when she had been playing with her best friend Blaise in his mother's gardens. But that didn't really count.)

She noticed that many of the students already wore their school uniforms. She had bought her own a few weeks ago at Madame Malkin's in Diagon Alley, but somehow wasn't really excited to wear them. She really loved clothes as a way to express herself and always splurged on great quality cloaks, dresses and leather boots and handbags. She even visited Muggle stores in London every so often, as she loved their trousers called jeans and their shoes. To sum it up, with a closet full of beloved items like hers, she really found it a shame to wear a boring black cloak. She comforted herself with the idea that she could still wear what she wanted on the weekends and underneath her robes.

At the end of the train, where the lavatory compartments were placed, she waited a little and looked through the window at the quickly passing-by landscape. After a few minutes she started to walk back through the different wagons. She was just leaving the last one through the connecting door, when she walked right into someone, who left a compartment nearby while looking into the other direction. She was thrown back a little and hit her elbow on door handle. "Ouch!" she exclaimed as she had hit that nasty little nerve, which really hurt disgustingly.

She shot a quick glance at the person and noticed that it was a very tall, but slender boy with very blond hair. He turned to look at her with cold grey eyes, which conveyed annoyance and spite. Jade was taken aback immediately. His face was pointed and very pale (even though it had been a very hot summer and Jade had become rather tanned this year just by studying in the garden). His skin seemed incredibly fine and even; he would have been quite handsome if he hadn't been looking so nastily at her.

After a moment his expression changed as he somehow realized that he had never seen this girl before. She was standing before him, still rubbing her elbow and wearing a cute little cape that only reached her hips as a summery alternative to a cloak. Underneath she wore some kind of tight-fitting cotton dress with opaque tights and expensive-looking taupe leather boots.

Her hair was a dark chocolate brown, very long and wavy. As he looked into her face, he immediately noticed her eyes, which were almost as dark as her hair and slightly cat-like with long black lashes. Even though her eyes were that dark, they still had a unique shine to them and were only emphasized more by her perfectly arched eyebrows. She had obviously gotten a slight tan over summer and her face had a healthy glow about it.

He was sure he had never seen her before, as he would clearly have remembered. Girls like her were very rare in Hogwarts. She looked clever and slightly intimidating and just like him she had something elitist in her air.

The boy looked at her, suddenly a hint of curiosity in his eyes. He turned towards her and Jade could clearly see the Prefect badge on his broad chest. Just like Hermione's, only that it was Slytherin green instead of Gryffindor red. Well, that figured.

He furrowed his brow. "I have a feeling that I never met you before. Allow me to introduce myself," his voice was drawling and cold; yet there was something raspy in it. He reached his hand out towards her _'Well, at least he has manners.'_ Jade thought, shaking his hand

"My name is Draco .." Just as he said his last name a very loud _PENG _erupted from the compartment, he had just exited. With an even more annoyed look on his face he said to her "Second Years. I just told them off, as they were playing a more risky version of Exploding Snap.. Well, obviously to no avail." He added with a smirk on his face.

Her hand had twitched inside his as the noise had startled her, he let go of it and asked "So your name is..?"

"I'm Jade Heywood. It's a pleasure to meet you, Draco." Returning his smile, but still unsure who she really had in front of her. She was just about to ask him to repeat his name, when he said with a slightly flabbergasted look on his face "_Heywood_? I hate to admit it, but your family's history is almost older than my own! Unfortunately we are a dying breed! How does it come that I never saw you at school before?"

She told him about her being homeschooled and now preparing for her O.W.L.s, he nodded understandingly.

"Actually, sometimes I really wished that I was being homeschooled. Not everything is great at Hogwarts, I can tell you that. But you will see for yourself. I heard that this year there will be some changes made in the castle.." He told her with an air of such arrogance, Jade had never witnessed before.

She looked inquiringly at him and so he added in a low voice "Well, tonight there will be a new teacher in school for Defence Against the Dark Arts, Dolores Umbridge, who was sent there by the Minister himself to get the school more under the Ministry's control, now that Dumbledore is officially a senile loony."

"How do you know all that?" she asked him. He smiled, showing off perfectly white teeth. "Oh, I have my ways."

"Actually," he went on in his drawling voice "I don't really care what that Umbridge woman will do as long as she doesn't mess with the Quidditch teams."

Jade's eyebrows rose a little. "So you play Quidditch? Which position?" Jade loved Quidditch like almost every young witch or wizard. She had played in a little club for the last years and it had really toughened her up.

"Well, have a guess!" he suggested with a smirk. Jade took a step back and looked at him properly. Even though he was so slender, he had broad shoulders and definitely an athletic body.

"Hmm... Well, of all the positions I clearly don't see you as a Beater and neither as a Keeper. I could imagine you are very fast on a broom. If you weren't so tall, I would actually say Seeker. But now I kind of have a tendency to say you are a Chaser... ?" She inclined her head and awaited his response.

"Actually you almost got it! I do play the position of the Seeker." He said with a hint of pride in his voice. Jade let her shoulders drop, she hated being wrong. He went on; as if wanting to comfort her. "I have to admit I am a bit too tall, but it is not that important at Hogwarts as I have a very fast broom, faster than most of the others. And that compensates for all the head wind I get." he joked.

She smiled at him "So my guess wasn't that bad. I would let you guess my position, but I don't like being judged" She laughed "I play Chaser... typical woman's position" Her eyes were twinkling. It was incredible how a conversation about Quidditch never seemed to fail loosening up the mood.

"Well, that's good news! You should come to Slytherin! We could really need you! Our Chasers aren't the best at the moment... Speaking of houses: You haven't been sorted already, have you?"

Jade shook her head. "No, I'm actually going to be sorted with the first years today. And somehow I have a feeling that it will be a little embarrassing."

He started smirking again. "Oh, don't worry. The hat only takes a second. It's over before it really begins. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Maybe you will end up in Slytherin after all." Now his smirk broke out into a smile.

She had to smile at the sight of him. Somehow his smile didn't fit into his face. "Noo.. I don't want to be a disgrace to my family. Gryffindors all the way.." she deadpanned, but with the same twinkle in her eyes that just wouldn't leave them.

They went on quite some time, talking about many different things. And the longer they talked, the less arrogant and cold the boy got; and the funnier. He had a wicked sense of humour, very sarcastic, even cynical. And even though Jade had never met someone who seemed to be so full of himself, she enjoyed his company.

He had something about him that really drew her towards him. And somewhere in between, Jade really felt that the sparks were beginning to fly. She liked this guy! And she could sense that the feeling was mutual.

Suddenly the door on the other end of the carriage opened and a pug-faced girl with chin-long black hair and a very irritated look on her face entered. She eyed Jade up and her face turned into a slightly venomous grimace. She came closer and was now keeping her eyes on the back of the blonde boy, who hadn't noticed her yet. "Malfoy!" she screeched. And to Jade's pure horror the boy in front of her turned.

* * *

Her heart felt like it had just fallen through the floor; she didn't know what to do. Oh Merlin! This was HIM! While he still had his back turned towards her and talked with Miss Pug-Face she considered her options: She could either hex him into the next century right now or just run.

The second somehow seemed so much more reasonable. So she ran. Not really running, as that would have been kind of overdramatic; and even though she felt like doing something overdramatic right now, she didn't want to embarrass herself completely. She quickly made her way past the two Slytherins and through the wagon. She hadn't come very far, when she heard his voice. "Jade? Where are you going?"

She reached the door at the end of the wagon and crossed it without looking back. On the other side she muttered "Colloportus", pointing her wand at the lock of the door. That would take him a while.

She quickly moved on, a few seconds later she heard how someone tried to open the door behind her. She passed the next door. And now everything came crashing down upon her.

She had talked to this boy, without even knowing that it was '_him_' and that _his _father had killed her parents. And she had liked him! She had found him funny and cute! Oh Merlin! That really wasn't how she had expected things to be. Why had everybody told her that he was an insufferable git, when he really wasn't? She heard him coming closer behind her and before she knew it, the tears were welling up inside her. She was a real waterworks these days. But she would hold them back. She would definitely not be the girl, who cried the first day at school!

And finally she came into sight of her compartment. She saw Fred and George standing in front of the open door with Harry on their side, talking to Neville, Luna, Ginny, Ron and Hermione who all sat inside.

Harry noticed her approaching and Malfoy following closely behind. He called the attention of the others towards the situation and Fred and George turned. They saw Malfoy and their facial expressions immediately changed. It was obvious that they hated him.

When Jade reached the group, Fred and George already had their wands out, pointing them at Malfoy, she quickly made her way around them and ran directly into Harry's arms. "Are you alright?" he muttered into her hair as she buried her face in his chest, trying to hide. Within seconds the entire Weasley Clan, including Ginny, was between her and Malfoy. All of them with their wands ready, only Malfoy was holding his hands up in defeat. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I really didn't do anything this time! I just talked to her and then she ran away!"

"I don't know why that surprises you, Malfoy! Your ugly visage would make the girls run away any day!" Fred sneered. Malfoy's face darkened "No, I'm serious! I didn't hurt her in any way!"

Hermione took Jade's hand and pulled her into the compartment, closing the door behind them. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"  
"No..", Jade had finally pulled herself together again "No, he really didn't. I just didn't know who he was and talked to him. Well, then I found out and was kind of shocked." Hermione nodded. A short moment later the Weasleys and Harry came back into the compartment again, making it rather crowded.

"Nothing happened!" George said with a foul look on his face "I would've liked to sent my hexes at this slimy git, but he just turned his back on us and walked away. And even I have enough decency to not hex a ferret, when its back is turned."

* * *

The rest of the journey was much more uneventful. Shortly before the Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmeade Station, Jade changed her cape for her new school robes.

When they exited the train, she could see the castle for the first time. It looked very old with many different towers and a huge dark lake beneath it. She went with the other students to the carriages that apparently moved on their own. Slowly they made their way up to the castle and Jade was getting more nervous with each inch that they got closer to the school. She actually caught her own mind, silently humming _'Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts'_ and had to grin, feeling exactly like the eleven-year-old girl she used to be.

A few minutes later she stepped into the Entrance Hall of the castle. She had read about this castle so many times that she recognized everything: the hourglasses, the marble staircase, the Great Hall with its bewitched ceiling and the long house tables. Soon after everybody was settled, the first years were brought in and Jade awkwardly stood to wait behind them.

Before the ceremony could start, the Sorting Hat sang its song, which was quite different than Jade had expected it to be. He appealed to the students to stand together in these dark times, even though they were separated initially by his own sorting. Jade found that this was something to think about.

Then like every year one by one was sorted into the different houses, it was a rather quick ceremony after all. And finally it was her turn. She walked up to the hat and immediately heard how whispering broke out in the Great Hall. She took seat on the stool and placed the hat on her head and heard a small voice talk right into her ears "A young Heywood! With you Sorting never is too difficult! Although your brains are worthy of Ravenclaw, you are clearly through and through a GRYFFINDOR!" He shouted the last words out into the hall and the cheering broke loose at the Gryffindor table. Jade smiled and made her way to the table to sit down next to Hermione, who had kept a seat free for her right from the start, and a boy who introduced himself as Dean Thomas.

The opening banquet was fantastic. Jade had never seen so many great dishes on one table. She took a little of almost everything, but didn't overstuff her stomach as she assumed that the dessert would be just as great as the main course, with which she was right. During the meal she felt the eyes of many students upon her. Well, you wouldn't have to be a great seer to predict that she as the "New Girl" would be stared at the few first days of school.

But there was one set of eyes, that particular bore into her, stormy grey ones.

Jade tried to avoid looking into his direction and failed only once. He had a puzzled look on his face, which showed that he really wanted to know what was going on. A few seats away from him were another pair of eyes that frequently looked into her direction, dark ones that belonged to Blaise Zabini. Her former best friend, the one who had written her a letter each day, until they had gotten into a huge fight last Christmas. She didn't dare to look at him directly as she still was hurt by what he said during their argument.

After the dishes had vanished, Professor Dumbledore stood up again to introduce two new members of staff. And Draco had been right: Immediately after she was introduced, Professor Umbridge, who looked like a very ugly toad, started to hold a speech, which was almost more interesting than the Sorting Hat's new song. Now it was obvious that the Ministry really was trying to interfere at the school. Jade was not so sure she wanted to know what Umbridge had in her mind for the future of Hogwarts.


	4. Chapter 4

Draco lay in his four-poster bed that night, thinking about what had happened on the Hogwarts Express today. Actually, he had been thinking about it for the whole evening and came to the conclusion that it had obviously been Pansy who had scared Jade away. It either had been Pansy herself, which would not be making any sense to him, or what she had said. And basically what she had said, before Jade had run away, was his last name. Obviously Jade hadn't heard it over the Exploding Snap in the first place.

So she was a Heywood; and he could see that being a Heywood you wouldn't really enjoy getting to know a Malfoy due to sheer principle. But she had cried, hadn't she? So there definitely was more to her whole reaction than old family grudges.

Draco racked his brains. His summer had been the worst ever. The Dark Lord was back and Death Eaters were now constant guests at the Manor. His father was very excited, while his mother seemed anxious all the time. And even though Draco could not chose the side he fought on eventually, he still wanted to know who that 'creature' was he fought for. So he spent many mornings, when most of the guests still were asleep, in the library going over all the newspapers, different biographies and history books of that time. And of course what he found was not pleasant. He had imbibed the whole pure-blood ideology from infancy, therefore was easily persuaded that Muggles and Muggleborns were not the same as he was.

But did that really justify the homicide and torture that had been committed during the First War? Every fool could see that the simple answer was: No, it didn't! At the Manor he constantly heard people talking about how Muggleborns did not deserve their magic, should not possess wands and were inferior in every way. But he knew very well, that there was a certain Muggleborn, who beat him in every class. This whole ideology just had so many faults, he could not bring himself to still cling to it like a lifeline.

And the thing that was throwing him off most was: Why on earth did all those pure-blooded wizards from all the old families run after somebody who was the son of a Muggle himself? Where was the logic in that?

All of this led him to believe, that the followers of the Dark Lord were either lusting after power (like his father) or sheer murderers and psychopaths.

During his studies he came across many, many names of killed Muggles, Muggleborns, Half-Bloods and Pure-Bloods. Sometimes there even were pictures of the tortured and dead bodies, one of it so crude and disgusting that Draco immediately vomited into the waste paper basket nearby. It had been a picture of two little Muggle children.

After the summer, Draco didn't even know what he should think anymore. On the one hand he wanted to stay on the side of his family and eventually he wanted to be on the winning side; but on the other hand he now knew what it meant to be a Death Eater and he was not so sure he wanted to be one himself.

At the Quidditch World Cup last summer he had gotten a taste of the 'fun' that came along with following the Dark Lord. He still remembered how he had tipped off the Mudblood Granger to hide herself. Back then he had justified this with telling himself that he just did not want to see Granger's panties as she was flipped upside down in the air by the Death Eaters like that Muggle woman. But he knew deep inside him that he was kidding himself (..not about the part with Granger's panties though).

Very deeply buried inside him, there was a tiny spark of defiance and a hunger for rebellion against everything his father had taught him and the Dark Lord stood for. He knew that it just wasn't right and thinking about these things made him feel sick to his stomach.

* * *

So now, lying on his soft bed in Hogwarts with the curtains closed around him, he searched his memories for the name "Heywood". He was sure it had appeared several times during his research and also he was sure that one of the times it had been a small notice of death in a tiny corner of the page.

You did not need to be a genius to add two and two together. If for example family members of the girl had died and his father had something to do with it, then it was no surprise that hearing his name would send her running away from him like she did. But how would he find out for sure? Well, asking his father was out of question and the newspapers never had been too concrete in these notices due to obvious reasons. So actually the only thing he could do was to ask Jade herself about it. But that would be incredibly tactless.

Suddenly a big question engulfed him like one of the curtains: Why did he even care so much about this? Normally he would just have shrugged the whole situation off. It wasn't the first time his family name had made people stay away from him after all. And he was not as naïve as to think that murder never had occurred in the history of the Malfoys.

One reason for his restless mind was the change he had gone through this summer. Somehow he felt that he had really matured over the last few months. When he thought back to his former years at Hogwarts he knew that he was not the same person anymore.

He knew that the days of prancing around the school without a care in the world and having the best time just teasing other students were coming to their end. It was not as if he didn't enjoy it anymore, but somehow many of the things he had done back then seemed so pointless. These current times were so much more serious and somehow he needed to find his place in this upcoming conflict quickly.

Another reason why he couldn't stop thinking about Jade was that he had so many different things on his mind at the moment, but (if he was honest with himself) nobody to talk to.

He obviously could not talk to his father about anything that put his views so blatantly into question; his mother already was worried sick and he didn't want to concern her even more; and at Hogwarts.. Well, there were Crabbe and Goyle, but Draco didn't even try to have a decent conversation with them anymore. He really would enjoy a conversation with one of the pickled animals in Snape's office more than trying to decipher the grunts and growls of those two. And there was Pansy; but even though he liked the attention she gave him and her admiration never failed to boost his ego a little, she did not know the real him. And he didn't even want her to.

Somehow he couldn't imagine that he would ever talk to any of them if he had a serious problem. He probably would rather go and talk to the Moaning Myrtle than confiding his thoughts in them. He chuckled to himself, knowing how sad that really sounded.

But the Heywood girl was someone he could envision himself sharing a conversation with. She appeared to be very clever and he had the feeling that if you got her to be your friend, she would be extremely trustworthy. She just seemed more serious than most of those insipid, giggling and screeching girls that always ran through the castle in little flocks. Even though, he remembered with a smile, he had made her giggle quite a lot. Hanging around with Crabbe and Goyle all the time, he had often wondered if either he was totally not funny or their heads were just too thick to let his humor through. But Jade had seemed to get all of his jokes and witty comments. And he almost longed to make her laugh again and relive the slightly proud feeling that her pleasant laugh at _his _joke gave him.

Merlin.. He had a feeling that he knew where this was leading to. He had never ever in his life found any girl as interesting as Jade Heywood. It was quite a new feeling for him.

It was not only the way she had talked to him or the way she had laughed that had made Draco think non-stop about her, it had also been the way she looked at him and how it had made him feel when he looked into her eyes. He almost laughed at himself when thinking this, but she had the most enchanting eyes he had ever seen on any witch. Actually if he thought about it, in his personal opinion, there were not even many witches as beautiful as her. There were quite a few pretty witches at Hogwarts, but none of them matched Draco's taste so much that he would call them beautiful.

Until now, no girl had ever thrown him off track like the Heywood girl. It was a funny feeling. New and exciting, but somehow alarming.

Draco shook his head as if to clear it and formed a decision in his mind. He jumped out of bed and lit up his wand, ignoring the protesting grunts of Crabbe and Goyle. After he had grabbed some parchment, a bottle of ink and his quill, he went back to the Slytherin Common room. Even though she wouldn't talk to him in person, she might read something he wrote to her.

Sitting down on his armchair by the fireplace, he started writing down his thoughts on the piece of parchment.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning at the breakfast table everybody got their schedules. Jade actually got a sixth year schedule with the small note from Professor McGonagall, that she was too advanced to be sorted into fifth year, but would still take the O.W.L. exams at the end of this year. That meant that she had to choose now which classes she wanted to take for her N.E.W.T.s. She settled for Transfiguration, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Which made eight classes in total and was a studious plan.

Somehow she felt that Hermione was relieved when she heard that Jade would be a sixth year student and she had to say that she was a bit relieved herself. Hermione and Jade were both very competitive and ambitious girls and competing against each other in class would probably have strained their young friendship. But unfortunately she was completely alone now and did not know anybody in her year. Hermione tried to help her and introduced her to Katie Bell and her friend Leanne. But neither of them had chosen Potions as their N.E.W.T. class and as that was Jade's first class this morning she was somehow at a loss at how to find the classroom down in the dungeons.

She decided she just would have to ask the students she met on her way, said Goodbye to her friends, threw her bag over her shoulder and left the Great Hall.

* * *

Just as she was crossing the Entrance Hall a small boy approached her, looking nervous and clutching a piece of parchment in his hand.

"Excuse me, are you Jade Heywood?" he squeaked. She nodded and took the parchment he was reaching over to her. Before she could say anything, he had already left and hastily ran down the stairs into the dungeons.

Even though she was curious who the letter was from, she did not have the time to read it right now. She took out her wand and quickly checked if it was hexed in any way, just for good measure. But it appeared to be a completely ordinary piece of parchment.

Wondering what the letter would say, she put it in her bag and followed the little boy down into the dungeons. Luck was with her as she quickly caught up to a group of students, talking about Professor Snape and how he would be even more vicious now in their N.E.W.T.s class. She decided to ask them if she could walk with them to the classroom and they agreed politely. She quickly got introduced to Roger Davies, Eddie Carmichael and Marcus Belby, who were all from Ravenclaw. They informed her that she would be the only Gryffindor student in Potions this year and that the class overall was very small, as Professor Snape only allowed the best students to continue in Potions. Jade felt like a cheater, because she didn't even have her O.W.L.s yet, but nevertheless was already studying for her N.E.W.T.s.

Unfortunately, after her first Potions lesson, she really had to agree with everything she had heard about Professor Snape. He was the most insufferable person she had ever met. He gave them an incredibly difficult potion to brew and then brooded over everybody's cauldron like a large greasy-haired bat, criticizing every little move they made. She only succeeded brewing the potion, because she had seen her uncle brewing it earlier this year.

After the bell had rung she walked up to the Great Hall next to Roger Davies. They happened to have exactly the same schedules and he had kindly offered that he could accompany her to the different classrooms.

Noticing many adoring looks and giggling groups of girls on their way through the castle, Jade quickly understood that Roger was a real heart-throb. He was quite handsome after all, Jade had to admit.

He was also quite the conversationalist and very entertaining. He told her about all the different ways the castle would change its appearance: doors that opened only when tickled, steps that only pretended to be solid and stairs that would change their directions. During their conversation he kept on making little comments that were very flirtatious. Mostly about her appearance or what she said. It made Jade feel slightly uncomfortable.

As they were walking down to dinner after their last lesson, Roger suddenly turned towards her, a charming grin on his face.

"Jade, I want to ask you something. There is a party on Friday night; it's the unofficial start of term party, we Ravenclaws organize each year. I wondered, seeing that you don't know so many people here yet, maybe you would like to accompany me? I would pick you up of course!"

Jade smiled and contemplated his invitation for a moment. A party sounded interesting, but if she said yes, would it be a date? She decided that she would go and find out herself; if he became too pushy, she could turn him down after all.

"Yes, that sounds nice, Roger. It wouldn't be a problem that I'm a Gryffindor though? I don't want to intrude or something."

Roger's eyes twinkled. "Of course not! I'll pick you up at seven then."

Seeing how excited he was, Jade suddenly was sure that he thought it was a date. She groaned inwardly, she had no intention of becoming the next conquest of the Hogwarts' womanizer.

* * *

After her first exhausting day of school Jade slumped into one of the armchairs next to the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room. Everybody around them talked about what had happened between Harry and Professor Umbridge today and Jade somehow feared that losing his temper in front of the Toad wasn't the cleverest thing Harry could have done. She had the impression that he was incredibly short-tempered at the moment anyway; yet it was understandable after everything that had happened during the summer.

Jade turned towards Hermione, who was knitting little hats, and Ginny, who was making notes while going through one of her textbooks, and said "Roger Davies invited me to a party on Friday night celebrating the beginning of the term. I thought it might be fun, so I accepted. But I really don't know what kind of a party this will be."

Ginny looked at her enthusiastically. "Michael invited me as well. My boyfriend, you know. He said that the Ravenclaws have this really great party at the beginning of each school year in a hidden room right by their Common Room. You should most definitely go! But beware of Roger Davies though. He is quite the heart breaker." For a moment Ginny went on gossiping about Davies and a few other boys in their school, but soon Hermione went off trying to prevent Fred and George from testing their Skiving Snackboxes on first years.

Jade decided that now was a good time to go up to their dormitory and read the letter, she had been carrying around all day. As she lay on her bed, she finally opened it. The handwriting was elegant and expressive, yet its angle somehow told her that it had been written by someone, who was left-handed:

_Jade,_

_I don't really know why I am writing this and what I am expecting from this either, but what I do know is that you probably would not talk to me again in person._

_Even though I am not entirely sure why you reacted the way you did today, I do have an idea. It's not a nice idea. It's actually a terrible one._

_And somehow I have the need to tell you that it really stirred me up. Even though I know that my family doesn't consist of saints, it still affects me to think about stories like these._

_I do want to offer you an apology; and even though I know it's worth nothing, I hope that you can still accept it._

_Somehow, and I really don't know why, I feel the need to justify myself a little in front of you. I don't want you to think that I would do something like this myself, because I wouldn't. And if I could change the ways of life, I would._

_D.M._

Jade was impressed. She hadn't expected him to be so mature. This letter somehow did not seem to be written by the arrogant boy, she had met on the train. And suddenly Jade was sure that behind this facade, behind the drawling voice and the cold grey eyes, his real personality was hidden.

She leaned back into her soft cushions and smiled; she knew she liked this boy already. Somewhere in her head a very annoying voice was telling her that this would probably end very badly. But she just pushed it away and drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The week went over in a blur. Jade already had a huge pile of homework to do and didn't even know where to start. Even though she had been studying most of the time during the last days, there had also been time for a long tour of the Hogwarts' library with Hermione, a walk around the grounds with Roger Davies and a funny night trip with Fred and George, showing her all the short cuts and secret passageways in the castle. Jade had gotten lost in the castle at least once a day. It kept changing its architecture, stairs and doors. She found it almost impossible to remember all the ways to the different classrooms.

And in an attempt to not get lost again this day, she was standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady at seven o'clock on Friday night and was waiting for Roger, who would accompany her to the party. After this week, she could say that he actually was a very nice guy, but something about him put her off slightly. It probably was the way he acted towards her. He was much too charming and he was flirting like that with just every girl. She really didn't find that a very attractive trait and immediately sorted him into her "Just Friends" category.

As it was a party she had dressed up slightly and wore a dress underneath her cape, which still was very casual. Five minutes later Roger finally turned up.

"I'm sorry, Jade! I got hold up with the party preparations, but the room really looks great by now."

She smiled at him "Oh no worries, I had the Fat Lady here to keep me company."

They started walking and Jade added. "It's really nice of you to accompany me there, I think without you I would have gotten lost so much more this week than I already did."

They made some of the usual small talk while walking through the castle "So.. Now your first week of school already is over. Is Hogwarts as you had expected it to be?" Roger asked her.

"There really is one thing I hadn't expected" Jade said with a slight strain in her voice "All of the gossip that goes on here. I've been here for only five days and already heard weird stories about myself. These people never talked to me, but still think that they can have an accurate opinion about me. But I guess I shouldn't complain, you know. It's much worse for Harry. I really admire how he puts up with it."

Roger snorted. "Yeah, it's really like a bad tabloid exploded in here this year. There are stories about anyone and anything, it's weird. As if those people hadn't lives for themselves. About the Potter thing.. I do believe him. No matter what the Prophet or the Ministry is saying. I knew Cedric and there is no other explanation for his death in my opinion. Also, I do trust Dumbledore more than Fudge. And about Umbridge.. I think the cleverest thing to do is to stay out of her line. I don't trust her at all, she seems very double-faced that woman."

Jade nodded in appreciation of what he was saying and he added "But Jade, let's talk about something else. We shouldn't arrive at that party with those dead serious looks on our faces."

And he quickly changed the topic and talked about the Quidditch try-outs this year and how he had heard that today Ronald Weasley had become the new Gryffindor Keeper. Tomorrow would be the try-outs for the position of the Chasers and even though the three Gryffindor Chasers Alicia, Angelina and Katie were rumoured to be a great team, Jade would try nevertheless.

Finally they arrived at the Portrait of Ignatia Wildsmith, the witch who had invented floopowder, and Roger quickly muttered a password to make the portrait swing open and reveal a big circular room behind it, already crowded with people. It was decorated in the Ravenclaw house colors, blue and bronze, and from the very high ceiling it was raining tinsel in the form of little ravens. There was music, a bar and even a buffet with delicious snacks "right out of the kitchen" as Roger stated.

He introduced her to Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe, who both went to the same year as she did. When Roger went to get drinks, Marietta turned towards Jade, a slightly mean look on her face.

"You know he only wants to be the first guy to get lucky with the new girl, don't you? He might talk to you like you're something special and all, but don't get your hopes up, you really aren't for him!" Jade was taken aback and sent a look over to Cho, who suddenly admired the tinsel ravens in her hand with great interest. But Jade could still see the uncomfortable look on her face.

To Jade the situation was pretty obvious: this Marietta girl was just incredibly jealous. Jade had no interest in Roger and neither in being hated on by this Ravenclaw girl. So she chose the simplest option. "Marietta, actually I'm really not interested in him. Maybe you could do me a favour and let it slip to Roger, that there already is another boy in my life. Even though this is not really true, I made the experience that it is much gentler to a male's ego than telling him directly that he is not your type."

Marietta grinned at her, turned on the spot and left Jade and Cho behind her. Cho sighed "I'm really sorry. She is just totally head over heels for this guy." She offered apologetically.

* * *

One and a half hour later, Marietta was in an intense snogging session with Roger over on one of the couches and Jade was sitting at the bar with Ginny, getting drinks served by Michael Corner, who had the job of the barkeeper tonight. Even though some of the seventh years had organized some fire whiskey and other liquor, Jade stayed away from the alcohol and only drank some fruity cocktails. She knew that she didn't hold her liquor very well and really was not keen on having some embarrassing incidents tonight.

As she checked the large clock, which hang on a wall behind the bar, Jade realized that she only had half an hour until her curfew was over. All of the Ravenclaws weren't really worried about their curfew as their Common Room seemed to be very near. And the only other Gryffindor, namely Ginny, was so happy to be with her boyfriend in complete safety from her brothers that she really did seem to want to leave any time soon. But Jade had gotten bored already and did not want to be caught breaking the rules of school in her first week already. Furthermore she needed to be on her best form tomorrow for the Quidditch try-outs. Asking Roger to bring her back to her Common Room was out of question, as he was still glued to Marietta's face, so she decided she would just have to find the way back herself. She said Goodbye to Ginny, Michael and the other Ravenclaws she had met tonight, told them they should thank Roger for the invitation in her stead, and turned to leave.

So a few minutes later she was walking down one of the many staircases in Hogwarts (if she remembered rightly there were over 140 of them) and was looking out for students in Gryffindor uniforms. Needless to say Jade got lost. Totally lost.

After half an hour of running through corridors and up and down staircases, she finally recognized something: the Library! Even though it was already closed and she couldn't ask Madame Pince for the way, now she knew that she was on fourth floor. If she found her way to the Transfiguration classroom, which was on the same floor, she would definitely find her way back to the Common Room.

Suddenly she heard steps coming down the corridor and she turned around, recognizing the tall figure of Draco Malfoy. There was a slight frown on his face as he came closer and recognized her; he looked surprised and it was obvious that he had not expected to find her here.

They had been exchanging quick glances the whole week, but there never had been a moment when they could have talked to each other. Jade thought that this had been a good thing, as she had had the whole week to figure out how she wanted to act the next time they met. She had decided that she would give him a chance before she hated him. He had seemed so nice and she knew that she liked him. And maybe she could make him switch sides after all. And even if he didn't, it was always good to have friends in the lines of the enemies. Those last reasons were only her way to justify that she was giving him a chance. Even though her heart didn't need this justification, her head did.

He came closer and inclined his head, obviously waiting for her to speak.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, she said "I feel stupid saying this, but I can't seem to find my way back to the Common Room. I've been walking around the castle at least for half an hour now. And the library was the first thing that gave me a hint about my whereabouts."

He smiled at her and checked his watch. "It's already past curfew. If you allow me, I could escort you to the Gryffindor tower. I actually brought a group of first years up there just yesterday; they had totally lost their way in the dungeons. As a Prefect it's practically my duty to make sure you get back there safely. At least that is what Snape told me after he caught me telling the kids to take the entirely wrong way." He added as an afterthought with a mischievous grin on his face. A Slytherin he was.

"Well, if that doesn't sound trustworthy.. " she joked with a smile on her face "Actually I would really appreciate it if you helped me out."

He smiled at her and nodded. Together they started walking down the corridor. "Why are you wandering around alone in the castle at this time anyway?" he asked casually.

"Oh, there was a Ravenclaw party, I was invited to. It was on the seventh floor next to their Common Room."

"Hm.. But how does it come that you find your way up there and not back?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

"Actually Roger Davies accompanied me on my way earlier tonight. Just when I wanted to go home, he was kind of.. preoccupied."

Draco chuckled and murmured "Yeah, I bet he was." He halted next to an ancient looking tapestry, tipped his wand against it with his left hand and it revealed a steep and narrow hallway. "This is a shortcut directly to the sixth floor."

He led the way up the many stairs. Both of them had their wands out to light their way and they had not yet made it very far, when suddenly something cracked underneath Jade's right foot and she dropped down as her leg got caught in one of those steps, which vanished as soon as you had set your foot upon it.

"Oh no.. another one of those stupid trick steps.." She tried to pull her leg out of it, but somehow it was stuck. Draco already knelt down in front of her with tiny bit of concern in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Jade. I should have warned you. After all those years you just ignore those steps automatically. Here, let me pull you out."

He took her hands and gently but forcefully pulled her free. She stumbled into him and suddenly realized how much taller he really was. She was barely reaching the collar of his shirt. While trying to steady herself, she looked up at him and, without intending to, she inhaled his scent deeply.

And Merlin, did he smell nice. Somehow incredibly masculine, but still fresh and so unbelievably luscious. She suddenly felt the need to get even closer to him.. or steal his cloak. But, landing back on earth, she resisted those temptations and moved to let go of his hands instead.

But then he did something that made her feel this distinct and weird feeling in her stomach. Although he let go of her right hand, he kept her left hand in his and continued up the stairs without saying another word, the light of his wand guiding the way.

Finally they reached the end of the tunnel and another tapestry swung back to reveal a cross-coat of one of the many inner courtyards in the castle. Draco let go of her hand and, feeling the need to say something, Jade asked "So why were _you_ walking around the castle alone tonight? Prefect duties?"

"Not really. There is a bathroom on the fifth floor only for Prefects, Head Students and Quidditch Captains. And I thought a nice relaxing bath would be great after this week. The bathroom is actually quite nice with a huge tub, more like a little pool."

She nodded and they made their way through some more corridors, up several staircases and were just walking past an empty classroom, when they heard weird noises. It was like a humming and singing, but without any real words or any melody. She turned towards Draco "Do you hear...?" He interrupted her by laying his finger across his lips and motioned her to move on. She followed him, but shortly afterwards she felt something like a little stone hit the back of her head, it tumbled down onto the floor and she realized it was a piece of chalk. Bewildered, she turned around to see a poltergeist hovering in the air behind them; he was cackling at her while holding a whole package of chalk in his hand, taking pieces out of it to throw at them. That had to be Peeves.

Draco stepped in front of her to shield her from the flying chalk. "Peeves!" he snarled "You'd better get lost quickly if you know what's good for you!"

Peeves continued to snicker and screeched "Weee.. What have I found here? Little Lovey-Dovey Birdies out after curfew? Oooh.. Maybe Filch would be interested in this... Yes, yes.." He grinned evilly at them.

"I'm a Prefect, Peeves. Professor Snape himself told me to bring lost students back to their houses. But on my way down to the dungeons later I will keep my eyes open for the Bloody Baron. Maybe he will find it interesting that you are trying to sabotage the work of the Prefects now." Draco sneered haughtily and turned his back on Peeves. He beckoned Jade to move on and they only had made it a few steps, when Jade heard Peeves moving behind them and instantly knew that he had now thrown the entire package of chalk after them. Turning around fast, she drew out her wand and sent off a non-verbal 'Reducto' Curse. The chalk exploded in the air only a few feet away from Peeves and left him and the floor and walls around him completely dusted in chalk.

With a content smile Jade cleared up the hallway from the dust with a swirl of her wand, but made an exception for the poltergeist, who was now coughing up white clouds. With a very sulky look on his face he muttered "That wasn't very nice..." under his breath, turned and floated around the far corner of the corridor.

"Not bad, Jade!" Draco patted her shoulder "Peeves can be a real pain. But most of the times it's the easiest way to just ignore him. Even though that might be difficult sometimes. Especially when he is trying to rip off your nose.. But we'd better get going before Mrs. Norris finds us. That cat is the true evil."

So they continued their way up to the Gryffindor Tower. Draco kept explaining her the different ways to get there, depending on the day of the week, the time of day or even the mood you were in. Some doors only opened up to people in a good spirit and most of the stairs changed their direction by Friday (which was obviously why she had gotten so lost today). It was quite a tour he gave her.

Finally they arrived in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was snoring in deep slumber. Jade turned to look at him as he said "Well, there we are!" and smiled at her. A cute smile, she thought. Weirdly enough, somehow this moment felt as if he had just brought her home after a date.

"Thanks again for bringing me. I guess I would have had to camp in front of the Library if it wasn't for you." She inclined her head and looked up at him. His face was very smooth and somehow his features looked even softer in the dim light of the chandeliers that were lining the walls.

Then his eyes left hers and settled on a spot somewhere above her ear. He frowned slightly and then a little smirk spread across his face. He reached over and touched her hair and even though this wasn't an incredibly intimate gesture, it still felt like it. He pulled his hand back and offered his palm to her. In it lay a little blue tinsel raven, "Well, that certainly was a real Ravenclaw party, you went to."

Then he took out his wand, waving it over his palm. The little raven turned three-dimensional and took off into the air. Jade followed it with her eyes as it got lost in the darkness of the corridor; then she turned back towards Draco.

"Well, that was a cute little spell."

"I try." He replied and his smirk broke into a coy smile again. Jade noticed that there was a lot of smiling going on between the two of them.

She averted her gaze and her eyes travelled down for a moment as she pushed back her long bangs, which had fallen slightly into her face, and took a step back, just in case.

"Then I guess it's Goodnight now, Draco. I hope you get back to your Common Room safely. And thank you again."

"My pleasure." he replied "Goodnight, Jade."

One last glance and Jade turned and walked the last few steps towards the portrait. "Excuse me," she tentatively tried to wake up the Fat Lady, who did not seem to have heard in her sleep. Behind Jade Draco cleared his throat loudly and immediately the Fat Lady stirred. Looking slightly annoyed, she eyed Jade up, realizing she was the girl from earlier.

"Password?" "Mimbulus Mimbletonia" and the portrait swung open. Stepping into the Common Room with one foot, she turned around to Draco again, who still hadn't moved from his spot.

"And don't forget to keep your fingers crossed for my try-out tomorrow!" she said. He just smiled and nodded and the portrait swung close behind her.

* * *

The Common Room was almost empty, but Jade caught sight of Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting in a corner, apparently discussing something. She approached them and let herself sink into one of the armchairs and sighed "Merlin, I got lost in the castle.. Finally had your last detention tonight, Harry? Your hand's alright?" she asked.

Harry answered with a strain in his voice "Yeah.. More or less, I guess. We were just discussing something. My scar hurt rather badly tonight, when Umbridge touched my skin to examine my hand. I was thinking about writing to Sirius about it."

Hermione clearly didn't approve as she shook her head slightly and pursed her lips. "I told him that it would be much too dangerous. Owls can be intercepted. He should talk to Dumbledore about it." she said.

It took them a moment, but finally the four of them came to the conclusion that Harry should write the letter to Sirius in a way that only he would understand its true meaning.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day after lunch Harry, Ron and Jade went down to the Quidditch Pitch together. It was time for the Chaser try-outs and Jade was beginning to get nervous.

All in all it went rather well. Even though Katie, Alicia and Angelina played very well together, one couldn't deny that Jade was a talented flyer. And so Angelina decided to get her on the team as a reserve player, which meant that from now on, she would practice with the team.

And their first practice was right after the try-outs. Unfortunately it was a real nightmare and ended in a heavily bleeding Katie Bell, who needed to be taken to the Hospital Wing immediately. And it didn't help that somewhere during the practice some Slytherins had made their way up to the stands and kept ridiculing the Gryffindor players. Draco was among them, and even though Jade didn't hear that he in particular said something with all the wind blowing around her ears, it bugged her that he was there with the sole reason to disturb her practice.

In a foul mood the players walked up to their tower and after taking a quick shower Jade started to work at her homework, which kept her occupied for the entire rest of the weekend.

* * *

On Monday morning Jade walked down to the dungeons, meeting the Ravenclaw boys on her way again. Roger quickly took her aside and apologized.

"Jade, I'm really sorry about Friday. I know I promised to bring you back to your Common Room, but somehow I really drank too much of that firewhiskey, Chambers smuggled in. I had quite a lapse of memory, actually. I was told about some of the things I was doing.. rather upsetting."

Jade thought it was pretty lame of him to blame his own behaviour on his drunkenness, but told him that she really was not angry at him and had found her way back to the Common Room without too much of a disaster.

After yet another torturous double-lesson of Potions, Jade made her way up to the Entrance Hall, noticing that many of the Slytherins coming her way were giving her rather mean stares.

Then a large group of Slytherins in Draco's year walked around the corner, but the blond boy himself was nowhere to be seen. And before Jade could side-step around them, a group of three girls placed themselves directly in her way. She recognized one of them as the pug-faced girl, she had seen on the train. On her right side stood a rather square built-girl with slightly greasy hair and a very dirty look on her face; on her left side a blonde was fidgeting, apparently she was quite nervous.

The Pug-Face opened her mouth. "Well, if that isn't our famous newcomer, little Miss Heywood herself. I heard quite some stories about you."

Even though what she had said was not exactly mean, she was shooting daggers out of her eyes. Jade did not know what her problem was, but she remembered that in the train the girl had not been too pleased to see Draco talking to her. Maybe she was jealous? Or was she even his girlfriend?

Sensing that Jade was not about to answer, the girl went on. "But I have to tell you: You might be walking around the castle with your nose stuck in the air, thinking you're something special. But we in Slytherin see through you. You should watch your steps, girl. Or you might fall hard." She seemed very pleased with herself after that little speech.

Jade straightened her shoulders and transformed her face into a cold mask, something she always did when feeling threatened. She immediately noticed the slight change in the Pug's face, who was getting insecure now.

"Excuse me, but _who_ are you?" Jade said icily, her eyebrows rose imperceptibly. The Pug seemed to be fazed for a moment; she clearly had expected some more respect.

"I am Pansy Parkinson. This to my right is Millicent Bullstrode and her name is Daphne Greengrass."

"Parkinson?.. Ah, it rings a bell. Weren't the Parkinsons the family who kept remarrying their own cousins due to sheer lack of any good connection?" She heard snickering in the hallway; it was after all a well-known anecdote, like there were many in the pureblood community. Parkinson's face turned into a shade of blotchy pink. "Well, that was ages ago.. " She mumbled "A rather old tale. And at least my family didn't marry all over the world. Who knows what kind of dirty Brazilian blood runs through your veins, Heywood."

Jade just snickered tauntingly. "Yeah right, Pug-Face. I'm rather in a hurry, so get out of my way, now."

Pansy didn't move, suddenly a bitter determination could be seen on her face. "You know, Heywood. You might think you're 'oh so tough' and all above it. But you're family cannot be that great either. I mean, you're parents snuffed it after all... " (a mutual gasp ran through the dungeons, everyone knew that this was a low blow.)"They couldn't have been that talented, could they? I heard _He_ finished them off rather fast, after they begged .. "

Pansy broke off; within the blink of an eye Jade had gotten out her wand and already disarmed Daphne and Millicent non-verbally. Before Pansy could even get out her own wand, Jade had pointed hers directly at the girl and started an incantation. It sounded like she mumbled a song, but the words seemed to be in a foreign language. Jade's face suddenly looked slightly scary; her eyes seemed even darker than they usually were and her voice sent chills down the spines of the students around her. And something else had changed: it seemed as if there was a dark cloud building in the hallway right around the place where Pansy was standing.

The Slytherin girl suddenly acted strangely, she looked around her as if she couldn't see through the cloud, her face looked anxious. And then she broke down. She kneeled on the floor screaming at the top of her lungs trying to fend of invisible attacks. Her scream wasn't a scream out of pain, but out of pure angst.

Daphne and Millicent tried to get to her, but somehow they couldn't reach her. They turned towards Jade, but didn't dare to move closer, fearing they would end like Pansy.

Suddenly a high-pitched scream reverberated through the hallway and it carried through the hazy cloud. It was Hermione, calling Jade's name.

Jade stopped the incantation and the fog immediately dissolved. She turned towards the corner of the hallway where Hermione, Ron and Harry had appeared, all looking shocked. While Daphne and Millicent were quickly picking the whimpering mess that was Pansy up from the floor, a tall figure approached Jade. It was Blaise, a concerned look on his face. "Jade.. what was that?" he asked her. She didn't answer.

She had to get out of here. She knew she had totally messed up. What she had just done was very, very Dark Magic and she felt close to vomiting. Performing Dark Magic was not a good feeling, especially when your mind was not as evil as it needed to be to perform those curses.

Blaise rested his hand on her shoulder, apparently in an attempt to steady her trembling figure. But Jade shook him off and ran towards Harry, Hermione and Ron. She made her way up to them. Hermione still looked shocked "Jade! What did you do?" Jade couldn't bring out a word, but just grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her with her. They ran through the different hallways of the dungeons, Hermione just followed Jade without asking any more questions. Finally they reached a girl's lavatory and Jade pushed through the doors and right into a cubicle. She couldn't help but vomit the entire contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl; she felt so sick.

Hermione caringly held Jade's hair out of the way and rubbed her back a little. After Jade had washed out her mouth and somehow pulled herself back together, Hermione finally asked again "Jade, I saw what you did. You can't deny that it was some evil curse. I heard about this in particular, it was Perkowski's Cloud of Fear, wasn't it?.. Just look at you own reaction to it! Why did you do this?"

"I'm so sorry, Hermione! I know I overreacted. But she said things about my parents and I totally saw red. I really wanted to make her pay. I.." She stopped, trying to fight that ugly feeling inside her throat.

"Somehow I really don't know what to say. I think you know that you will be expelled if any teacher gets wind about what happened today. And Pansy is a Prefect after all. You clearly attacked first and the way I know the Slytherins she's already in Professor Snape's Office right now, reporting you. I clearly don't support your breaking of the school rules, but I think I should go down there to cut the losses. I'll say you just played a mean prank, but nothing involving the Dark Arts." Jade could practically see how a plan formed in Hermione's head.

"Hermione, I can't say how thankful I am that I have you." She hugged her friend.

Nodding, Hermione left the lavatory, but turned before she left. "And five points from Gryffindor for performing magic in the hallways!"

* * *

Jade had expected Professor McGonagall to turn up during the day to tell her how she was going to be punished, but somehow nothing happened except she was slowly getting the feeling that the whole school was talking about how she had hexed Pansy down in the dungeons. She even heard some third-year girls, who vowed to their friends that they had seen Pansy crawl out of the dungeons with huge boils all over her body. Hogwarts' students really had a weird sense of imagination.

At dinner she finally saw Hermione again. She sat next to her and once more thanked her for her help.

"Actually, I didn't need to do much. When I came down Blaise Zabini approached me. He told me that he had already dealt with everything and that Pansy wouldn't tell anyone. Don't ask me how he did it though. But Jade, you cannot do something like this again! It was sheer luck that you didn't get expelled. And you saw what it did to you!"

"I know, Hermione! It was a mistake. I won't do it again, I promise."

Now Ron butted in the conversation. "Actually Jade, Parkinson really deserved what she got. She had it coming for her a long time."

Hermione snorted, but did not say anything to object.

Jade looked over to the Slytherin table, catching the eye of her former best friend. She missed Blaise terribly and she knew that she really owed him now. She nodded in his direction and she thought she caught the glimpse of a smile on his face.


	8. Chapter 8

After dinner she went to the library with Hermione, but she really couldn't concentrate today. Her mood was below zero and somehow she was freezing even though it was still quite warm inside the castle. She stood up to bring back a book to its shelf and browsed the rows and rows of shelves until she found the empty gap, which belonged to the book in her hands. She placed it back and suddenly saw someone approaching her from behind. She turned around and realized that it was Draco.

He looked at her; his brow furrowed. "I heard what happened down in the dungeons today. I don't know if the rumours were true, but the Perkowskian Cloud of Fear? Jade, that's really advanced Dark Magic!"

"You're here to tell me off?" She was in a bad mood, a very bad mood. He looked taken aback.

"Not at all... I just know that Dark Magic is .. '_hard_' to perform. I merely wanted to see if you were alright."

Jade sighed and her face softened."I'm sorry. I feel like rubbish today. And I really don't want to talk about what happened there. I do regret what I did, even though I think she deserved it, but I shouldn't have done it nevertheless."

Draco just nodded; then a ghost of a smile crept into his face. "I have an idea... Do you want to come with me?"

For a second Jade hesitated. She had no idea where Draco would bring her. But anything would probably be better than the library right now. And so she nodded. "Just wait a moment, I'll grab my bag."

After saying Goodbye to Hermione, Jade walked out of the Library. Draco was waiting at the entrance for her. When she arrived, he held out his hand for her. It made her smile, even though smiling somehow felt weird to her today, and she took it; it was smooth and warm. Hand in hand they started to make their way through the castle again.

"So.. Where are we going, Draco?"

"Oh, you'll see.." he mumbled.

They walked down several staircases and Jade had the feeling that somehow they had to be right below the Great Hall. They made their way through a corridor with a large painting of a fruit bowl. Draco stepped close to the painting and tickled the pear in the portrait, which started giggling und turned into a door knob. He swung the portrait open and led her into a room, almost as huge as the Great Hall, with four identical long tables just like the house tables above. The walls were lined with windows, even though they were under the ground. Obviously this was the Hogwarts Kitchen and it was filled with tiny house-elves, who were shuffling around busily.

"Isn't it forbidden to come here?" she asked.

Draco only smirked at her and lifted one of his brows. "That never stopped me before.."

Suddenly Jade had to think that he would really resemble one of those Pixies from Grimmauld Place if he had their pointed ears.. and was blue. She grinned at her own weird thoughts as a small house-elf hopped forward.

"Draco Malfoy, sir. How can Timble help you, sir?"

"Just two cups of hot chocolate. We'll take it over by the windows." Draco drawled languidly and led Jade through the giant hall and over to one of the windows. The window ledge was rather deep so that they could easily sit on it.

A second later he was lounging next to her, watching her from the corner of his eyes.

"You shouldn't feel that bad. Pansy kind of deserved it." He said after a moment of silence.

Jade turned to look at him, her brow a little furrowed. "Isn't she your friend?"

"Yeah.. We're friendly.." he said lazily "But she can be such a pain at times. And I heard what she said to you. She insulted your family, didn't she?"

Jade nodded and watched how Draco sneered. "Pretty dumb move of her.. I would have reacted the same way. Family is important.. You're living with your aunt and uncle, right?" he added after a small moment.

"Yes.. they were very young when they took me. My aunt had only graduated a few weeks earlier."

"But that had to be fun, hadn't it? I mean my parents are a completely different generation than I am.. I always thought it would be fun to have younger parents.. They might be less strict."

"Are your parents too strict with you?"

"Hell, yeah. They just have really high expectations. And I'm far from living up to them.. I'd have to be top at every class.. which I can't because Granger is in my year." His voice sounded slightly contemptuous. And Jade realized that the feeling of animosity between her Gryffindor friends and this Slytherin was definitely mutual.

Right in that moment the small house-elf brought a tray filled with a mug, two cups and a variety of delicious looking cookies. Jade thanked the little creature, knowing that they got incredibly excited when being thanked properly for their hard work.

They continued talking a little about their families and Jade realized that even though he was a Malfoy, his family seemed to be rather ordinary. But she could see that he had definitely been educated in a different way; her own upbringing had been much more liberal.

And after two cups of hot chocolate and too many delicious cookies, Jade already felt much better. The curse she had shot at Pansy really had left her feel slightly drained and chocolate always was the best medicine. They were talking about this and that now, especially about how Dolores Umbridge had become the new High Inquisitor of Hogwarts and how Jade had gotten into the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Draco even apologized for disturbing their practice, but he justified it with saying that the old enmity between Gryffindor and Slytherin really resembled war when it came to Quidditch.

During their conversation Jade could feel the chemistry between them again. Somehow they really clicked and she never had experienced something like this before. But as the curfew loomed closer they made their way out of the kitchen. Draco offered to bring her up to the Gryffindor Tower again, and even though she told him she could find her way alone this time, he insisted on accompanying her. He didn't hold her hand this time, which made her wonder if he had only done that before to comfort her, and not as a small sign of affection. And as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, she turned towards him and thanked him for bringing her once more.

"You're welcome really. I hope you feel better now. I was really concerned for you, you know." he said in a voice that was very different from the drawling, arrogant tone he usually sported. Jade couldn't help but smile, somehow it was cute of him that he cared for her this way. And as she gave him her prettiest smile she thought for a moment that he was about to move closer, but then he didn't.

She looked into his grey eyes and felt her stomach do the tiniest flip. This was weird.

"Good Night, Draco."

"Night, Jade."

Still smiling she turned around and knew that he was still standing on the same spot as she closed the portrait behind her.

* * *

Once inside the Common Room Jade could see Hermione and Ginny looking up from their places by the window, she quickly went over to them.

"Hey Jade! Are you alright? I was slightly concerned after you left the library." Hermione said, true concern visible in her eyes.

"I felt kind of weird back there. I couldn't concentrate on anything, so I thought I would go and clear my head."

Now Ginny butted into the conversation. "Yeah, about that. Someone saw you walking around with Malfoy again. What are you doing with him, Jade? We thought you hated him!" Ginny's voice was lined with fierceness; Hermione looked slightly uncomfortable by now.

"I just thought that maybe I should get to know him, before I hated him...give him a chance. You know, the first time I spoke to him, he was really nice. So I thought.. I don't know. Maybe get to know him and show him, that he is kind of on the wrong side. And even if he will stay there, it's always good to have friends on the other side of the battlefield." Jade tried to justify her behaviour, even though she knew the real reason why she hung around with Draco: She simply liked that guy.

"Well, I for one" Ginny stated "think you really should think this over. You might think that you're the one influencing him. But really, the stunt you pulled today in the dungeons just shows his bad influence on you, if you ask me. Not nice to know that you are firing off dark curses around you, Jade. I think you should really get that under control." Ginny shot her a slightly snotty look, stood up from the table and vanished through the door leading up to the dormitories.

Jade sighed and sat down on Ginny's empty seat. "Don't worry about Ginny" Hermione said "She really got in a rather nasty fight with her boyfriend today. But she wasn't quite wrong; after all you are _indeed_ walking around with the boy, who you were so afraid to meet in the first place. And he is _indeed_ the son of a Death Eater, so there is a reason to be careful around him."

"I know, Hermione. And Ginny might think I'm not able to handle my own business, but I am actually. I can look after myself and I will notice if he tries to influence me in any way.

"It might seem weird and all, but somehow we really get along great. He seems so much different than the person you described him to be. Even though I know that he always acted like a real git towards you. And I swear, if he ever does that around me, I will stand up for you. But right know I somehow want to get to know him better. "

Hermione just nodded and offered Jade a small smile. And again Jade was so incredibly thankful for having gotten to know a person so accepting as Hermione.

* * *

The weeks went on without any major incidents. Jade had noticed that many of the younger Slytherins now tried to avoid getting near her as if she might hex anyone in sight. Even though it made her feel a little like an outcast, at least she now didn't need to put up with their stupid comments or little pranks.

She had met Pansy Parkinson only twice the whole time. She still felt a little bad for what she had done to her and one afternoon as she was searching for several books in the library with Hermione, she suddenly heard her friend argue with someone. She turned around a corner to see Hermione standing in front of Parkinson and her two minions. Apparently they all wanted the same book, which the bushy-haired girl was clutching to her chest.

"Granger, give me this book! You probably have read it already anyway, being the insufferable know-it-all that you are!" Pansy hissed. Hermione's face only showed stronger determination.

"Parkinson, if you didn't always wait with your homework until last minute, you might have gotten the book earlier. I was here first, so I am going to take it with me!"

Hermione made a move to walk around them, but Pansy grabbed her arm to stop her. She was now screeching at the top of her voice."You'd better hand over the book now, Granger! We are three against one! Yuck, now I touched you. I must remember to wash my hands; I don't want to be sullied with your dirty Mudblood germs."

That was enough! Jade stepped around the corner, getting out her wand. Hermione, whose hand also had twitched towards her wand, caught Jade's eyes and shook her head imperceptibly.

Pansy and the other girls had heard the movement behind them and turned towards Jade. Pansy's expression was priceless; she winced heavily and her face became very pale.

Hermione caught their attention again with a smug smile on her face "Well, Parkinson. It's not three against one after all. And we both know that you three wouldn't even stand a small chance against us. Now get lost, before I get Madam Pince to throw you out of here!"

Suddenly Hermione stifled a laugh. Behind their backs, Jade had only made a small wand movement, but it had quite a big impact. It was a little teenage prank she had once read about in a witch magazine; a spell which would undo any kind of glamour charm a witch had put on herself. Obviously on a witch like Hermione, the spell would not have any effect. But with the Slytherin girls there suddenly was a great change: pimples appeared where there had been clear skin, their hair was suddenly getting frizzy to no end, their figures were getting much less toned and even Pansy's lips were suddenly much thinner.

Hermione, who was now grinning like a Cheshire cat, stepped around the three girls and left the section of the library with Jade walking next to her. They had just turned around the corner when they heard a blood-curdling scream. Laughing, they made their way back to the table "Jade, that really was a sneaky little spell. You have to teach me that one. I can't believe how much those girls cheated with their appearances!"

They sat back down at their table contentedly and started with their homework.

* * *

The school year really was getting intense as the weeks wore on. Jade and her friends all had to do loads of school work and Quidditch practices were getting rougher.

Somewhere in between studying and training Hermione had the idea that, seeing Professor Umbridge would not teach them how to defend themselves, they had to take matters into their own hands. Harry should be their teacher and Jade, who had been taught how to duel by her uncle for ages, was eager in supporting the idea. After all it was crucial that the students learned to defend themselves in times like these. After several very persuasive discussions about the topic, Harry eventually gave in and allowed Hermione to ask other befriended students, who might be interested in being taught by Harry, and they all agreed to have a meeting on the first Hogsmeade weekend in a rather dodgy pub called the "Hog's Head".

During these weeks Jade had met Draco a few times, the last time she had just gotten from her Quidditch practice and was covered in mud after Ron had thrown the Quaffle in such an unfortunate way, that Jade's broom had been knocked to the side and she had crashed into the muddy ground. Angelina had been furious.

Draco had asked her if they could meet up on their Hogsmeade trip and Jade had happily said yes, telling him that she had some errands to run but would be able to meet up with him around noon.

The only person Jade somehow had not gotten a hold of was Blaise. After the incident in the dungeons she really wanted to talk to him. But besides the meals in the Great Hall, she had only seen him twice. The first time in the library, where she was just about to walk up to his table, when Hermione called her in a shrill voice, nearly collapsing underneath a huge pile of books, she had needed for her Transfiguration essay.

The second time was in a hallway down in the dungeons, where Jade was walking in his direction just when she saw the Parkinson girl appear behind Blaise, and turned on her heel.

She told herself that if she did not run into him during the weekend, she would just walk up to him after dinner on Sunday. It really was time to put their fight behind them.


	9. Chapter 9

Finally Saturday arrived and everyone above second year was getting ready for Hogsmeade. Jade was a little excited because it was quite date-like what Draco had planned with her: He wanted to show her around town, maybe visit the Shrieking Shack, some of the shops and later stop by at the "Three Broomsticks" for drinks.

She caught herself rethinking her outfit at least thirty times, before settling on a pretty and rather warm cashmere cape with a nice dress underneath it, which was really showing off her curvy, yet athletic figure. She simply wanted to look her prettiest today and really enjoyed taking her time to get ready for the trip.

She left the castle with her friends and as they arrived at the Hog's Head twenty minutes later, Jade felt slightly uncomfortable. It was a small and very dirty pub with only a few customers, who all looked rather untrustworthy. Slowly the shabby inn got crowded as all of the other students arrived. There were more of them than Jade had expected, she counted twenty-five, but recognized only a few: most of them were Gryffindors, then Luna Loovegood, Marietta Edgecombe and her friend Cho Chang, Ginny's boyfriend with some friends and several complete strangers from different houses.

Unfortunately many of the students were there for the sole reason to get more information about everything that happened last summer after the Triwizard Tournament. And Harry and Hermione needed the first ten minutes to explain the whole situation to them. How Harry had escaped from Lord Voldemort three times already, how he had defended himself and why Umbridge did not want to teach them anything useful this year.

Eventually everyone agreed that they should meet up weekly as soon as someone found an adequate place, where they could meet up.

* * *

Stepping out of the Hog's Head at last, Jade breathed in the fresh air deeply and tried to shake off the dirty feeling, that pub had given her. She really hoped she didn't smell like this dump now.

She only had ten minutes to get to the little market place, where Draco had told her to meet him. Ron, Harry and Hermione hadn't been exactly enthusiastic about her plans with Draco, but none of them really would have told her to cancel it. After all she was old enough to make her own decisions and as long it was not putting anyone in danger (well, maybe except herself), it was her own responsibility. And then again, the Sorting Hat's song really had promoted inter-house unity, so maybe their friendship was not such a bad idea altogether.

And the one thing, all of them had seen, was the way Draco looked at Jade; it was _not_ how he looked at other people. Hermione even found it kind of creepy how he would change his entire face whenever he caught sight of her. She had observed him once in the library and she knew he wasn't faking it. He obviously had a soft spot for Jade.

They arrived on the square, which was full of busy marketers and bargaining customers, and Hermione noticed how Draco, who sat on a bench on the other side, caught sight of them and immediately stood up, running a hand through his sleek blond hair as he made his way through the market stands. Somehow Hermione caught herself thinking it was kind of sweet how he acted towards Jade. Even though she had never expected the words 'sweet' and 'Draco Malfoy' to pop up in the same thought, but at least he was attentive.. _unlike Ron_.. But that was quite another topic.

Jade hugged Hermione, Ron and Harry Goodbye and left to meet Draco in the middle of the market. The smell of freshly-cut flowers lingered in the air as she passed a little florist stand and saw the tall boy waiting for her right next to an ancient fountain in the centre of the small town square. He turned towards her now, and they both couldn't suppress a grin as their eyes met.

She noticed that he wore his usual dark attire: a luxurious, black cloak was thrown over his shoulders, dark trousers with a rather skinny leg hang a little low on his hips and the collar of a crisp, white shirt peeked out of the v-neck of his soft-looking cardigan. Jade really liked the way he dressed. It was a very conservative choice of clothing, but somehow Draco always wore his clothes with a twist and made his look classy, but yet very stylish and modern.

As she finally stood directly in front of him, she looked up into his eyes and saw how he elevated his brows slightly and was smirking a little, before he bit down on his lip and moved forwards to give her a small hug. For the short moment her arms went around his neck and she felt his body close to hers, before he pulled away again much too quickly and all she was left with was a trace of that scent of his. He had muttered some words of greeting as they had hugged each other and so Jade looked up at him again, a little shyly, as she returned a gentle "Hey.."

Both of them were smiling by now, like small children that had gotten their first racing broom, and Jade was actually grateful when Draco started their conversation and took her by the hand as they made a small tour around the market place. They made their way along the many stands, where salesmen praised their newest inventions or rare potion ingredients, and sometimes Draco would lean over to her and then her lips would smile at something he whispered in her ear. All the time her hand was firmly in his and Jade couldn't help but feel slightly lightheaded.

When there was nothing more to see at the market, he lead Jade away from the town square and into a smaller, much calmer, side street.

"So, do you want to see the town first of browse through some of the shops?" Draco asked her.

"Actually," Jade started and let go of his hand, knowing what she was going to say now might ruin their good mood. "I really want to buy a little present for Hermione. She helped me out once and is just such a good friend. Do you think we could find something here?" She noticed how his face already showed a little less enthusiasm. She could find something for Hermione on her own, but somehow she wanted Draco to help her. She wanted to test him and see how prejudiced he really was against Muggleborns, because if he really was how her friends had described him, they could stop whatever they were doing right now. She would never want to be with someone, who bowed to such an ideology. And so she'd better get to this topic quickly, before it was too late.

Draco was frowning a little as he moved his hands into the pockets of his cloak. "Yeah, I guess we could find something nice..." he said as his eyes travelled warily to the corners of the street. "Do you know what you're looking for? Maybe some sweets? Or something like a pretty quill? She probably wears them down rather quickly considering the way she scribbles down every little word the professor says." He smirked a little as he said this, apparently biting down another sarcastic comment. "And if you want to go all out for Granger, there is a rather exquisite jeweller in town, too."

"Well, I guess it is too early to propose right now... But maybe a pretty quill isn't such a bad idea after all. Or something like extravagant parchment for letters."

As the two of them started to walk into the direction of the main shopping road, Jade thought that Draco had actually reacted rather well. It was obvious that picking out a present for Hermione had definitely not been on his list for things to do today, but at least he was not in hysterics yet. So there still was a chance that he was not so gridlocked in those discriminating beliefs as everyone painted him to be.

He led her to a shop which sold stationery and Jade found what she was searching for very quickly: a pretty white box, which contained some very precious looking parchment with matching white ribbons to tie the rolls and white sealing wax. It was something special and over the top pricey, but Jade thought Hermione would really enjoy writing on these and it was worth it to her.

After she purchased Hermione's gift, they wandered through the other shops. They spend quite some time in Zonko's joke shop, fooling around and really enjoying themselves. And it was about then, when Jade realised how she loved being with Draco. He was just exactly the type of person that could really captivate her with his behaviour, the way he talked, his humour and also his looks. His face was not so commonly handsome like Roger Davies', but the sharpness of his features and his silvery blond hair gave something very special to him. He was very good-looking, but somehow in his own way. And Jade loved that wherever they went, he was always one of the tallest. It made her feel, as if he could protect her, even though she knew that it sounded cheesy.

Next they went to Honeydukes and Draco, who obviously had quite the sweet tooth, purchased many different things, including a package of mini chocolate frogs in different chocolate variations.

They wandered around the streets of Hogsmeade a little and Draco showed her all the little sights, the town had to offer. He did not take her hand again, but from time to time he would still find excuses to touch her and put an arm around her protectively inside one of the crowded shops or smooth a strand of her hair back after the wind had blown it into her face.

They were just walking along a little side street, when Draco suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a shop window; it was the jeweller he had told her about. And it was exquisite indeed. Jade recognized the name of the shop; she remembered seeing it on the little jewellery box, in which her aunt had received her engagement ring, which had cost a fortune for sure. Jade did not even want to know the prices of all the sparkly and shiny jewellery, which was presented in the window display.

"That's the jeweller I told you about. When I was younger my father sometimes brought me here and I could help him pick out something for my mother. I don't know, I guess it always set my mind at ease to see that they really care about each other. With all the arranged marriages in our community, something like this is pretty rare." Jade thought she could see a very slight rise of colour in Draco's face. Arranged marriages were common in the Pure-Blood society, but nevertheless something like a taboo topic.

"That's true.." Jade said silently "But it's really sad, too, isn't it? I really don't think that keeping the bloodline pure should have such a high importance nowadays. I know that it's a change that won't go quickly in the old families, but I think it really is time for it. This whole elitist thinking is rubbish if you ask me. I mean look at Hermione, she is Muggleborn but full of magic and talent. It is such a shame that some people think about her poorly because of her ancestry. It's unfair and dangerous. We all know what happened during the first war... And I just know for myself that if my true love happened to be a Muggle, then so it would be."

Draco did not answer, but it was obvious that he didn't like what he had heard. But Jade was determined to make him see her point.

"But Draco now seriously, I mean if you had to choose between the girl you loved above everything, who had no magical ancestry, and Millicent Bullstrode. Who would you choose?"

Draco let out a raspy laugh. "Millicent Bullstrode really is the most horrible alternative you could come up with. I think I would marry the other girl. But only if my parents approved, which is probable in the case of Millicent Bullstrode being the only other option. It's just that I would never risk breaking with my family for my own selfish needs."

"Selfish needs?" Jade furrowed her brow. This boy clearly never had been in love. Well, she hadn't either. But to call love a 'selfish need' was somehow extremely cynical. Love was the one thing that even made people, who always put themselves first, unselfish. She was talking about _love _after all, not about sheer lust.

"Yeah.. " Draco said, but his voice lacked conviction. "I think I could persuade my parents to let me marry a half-blood. But a Mud.." he quickly covered up his slip-up "..ggleborn? No chance whatsoever! And right now I don't think that it's going to be a problem for me anyway, you know. Most of the girls here in Hogwarts are as interesting to me as a flobberworm. And excuse me for saying this, but I tend to find Muggleborns even more tedious."

Jade's face still looked very sceptical, but Draco just looked at her and smiled. Slowly he reached to her neck, where something silver was peeking out and gently pulled her necklace out from under her cape.

"What are you wearing there?" He examined the little pendant that was dangling from the necklace.

"It's a little ring made of braided daisies. My former best friend gave it to me when we were little children. His mother found this so sweet that she brought it to some goblins, who turned it into white gold and set little diamonds into the daisies. It was a very generous birthday gift. I have it for years and somehow it gives me a reassuring feeling when I wear it around my neck. Like a lucky charm."

Draco played with the little pendant in his hand. "Who is your former best friend?"

Jade sighed, suddenly she felt a little sad. "Blaise Zabini. We had a huge row earlier this year. It was so stupid in retrospect."

"Blaise Zabini?" Draco's eyes widened. "Now, that really surprises me. I thought he was not the kind to be friends with anyone.."

"How do you mean that?" Jade asked.

Draco hesitated a moment. "Blaise is just the type of guy that hangs around with the others, but really does not reveal anything personal about himself. He just stays in the background most of the time and lets the others do the talking, like a quiet observer. He is pretty intelligent, so I guess he could enrich many discussions. But he just doesn't open up, even though he has a girlfriend now. He got together with Astoria Greengrass earlier this summer. Unfortunately I know quite a lot about their many rows; it's Pansy's second favourite topic this year."

"He got a girlfriend?" Now it was Jade's turn to be surprised. "He never told me about her."

"I guess he's really just gotten to know her this summer. But I don't think they will stay together for too long now. She is the most demanding person I ever saw and Blaise the most reserved. It gets worse every day. But coming back to your friendship with him, why did you break apart?"

Jade considered what she was about to say for a moment. "We got into a fight on his last Christmas break. It was so unnecessary. We really were friends for ages, since we were little. And then.. Well, a guy had asked me out and Blaise thought nothing of him and made some very snide and rude comments. So I kind of jumped to conclusions and told him that he shouldn't act so jealous.

"And I guess that was a huge mistake, because Blaise really got in rage and said some things to me.. Not very nice things. Pretty much that I was being self-centred and arrogant and really shouldn't be so conceited to think _he_ would like me in that way. And I didn't take that very well.

"You know, I really don't care if the whole world thinks I'm stupid and arrogant, but to be told that by your best friend really hurt. Of course he took it back and apologized over and over again. But I wasn't ready to forgive him somehow. It was scary how he turned so mean within a second and I never want to experience something like this again."

Draco had listened to her with a sympathetic look in his face. They still stood in front of the shop window. The sky, which had been so bright earlier, was getting cloudy and slowly rain began to fall. They quickly made their way to the Three Broomsticks and just closed the door behind them as the rain was beginning to pour onto the streets outside.

* * *

Draco looked around the very crowded pub and led Jade to a table at the far corner of it. It was a small table with only two chairs, but a nice view out of the window.

As Draco went to the bar to get drinks, Jade observed the crowd in the pub. There were many students, professors and people from the town, but she couldn't see any of her friends.

Carrying two butterbeers in his hand, Draco returned to the table and set the drinks down. Right in this moment someone called his name. It was a group of four Slytherins and Jade recognized the blonde Daphne Greengrass at the front of the group. They all greeted Draco and sat down at the table right next to them. The last person to make their way to the table was the tallest of them. With his dark skin easy to distinguish, it was Blaise. When he saw Jade at the table right next to his, he looked a bit perplexed.

Draco introduced Jade to the different Slytherins. The two she didn't know were Theodore Nott and Miles Bletchley. Somehow Jade was feeling very uncomfortable, she had the feeling Blaise was scowling at her and she did not really dare to look at him. It was such a weird situation.

Draco apparently noticed and leaned towards her."If this is uncomfortable for you, we could just find another table."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I can't keep running away from him forever." Draco nodded and shifted Jade's butterbeer towards her. They clinked their glasses together, smiling at each other, and took a sip.

Over at the other table they could overhear a conversation between Daphne and Blaise.

"Do you two know each other? I'm sensing very weird vibes here, Blaise." she asked him.

Blaise answered louder than necessary; his voice was unusually cold. "Actually, we do. We've known each other since infancy. I even considered her a friend, but I guess friends don't usually ignore each other."

Now she could feel his eyes upon her. Suppressing a roll of her own, Jade turned towards him and said

"And 'friends' usually don't insult each other either! Blaise, if you have something to say to me then please do. But don't talk about me when I sit right next to you."

Blaise's dark eyes glistened. He stood up and beckoned Jade to follow him a few steps into the crowd, so nobody could overhear their conversation. Jade excused herself in front of Draco and followed Blaise, who hadn't gone very far. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked up at him expectantly.

He let out a breath, he was holding. "Jade, I know that you are still offended by what I said and I know it was uncalled for and immature. But I said I was sorry at least a hundred times! After that day I visited your house five times and sent you at least twenty owls. You never responded anyway!"

"Yeah and for a reason! I don't care about the whole school calling me names, but not my best friend, Blaise! It really hurt.. And I was pissed off. And when I stopped being pissed at you, you didn't write anymore.." Jade felt the lump in her throat getting worse.

"I was over at your house a few weeks ago, but Cinny told me you were staying at a friends' house over the summer holidays." Jade didn't know that; her house-elf hadn't told her. Blaise continued "So I never had a real chance to apologize in person. You know I didn't mean what I said. I was in a weird mood and I said things, I shouldn't have. I really missed you the last months, you know!"

Blaise had put his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him and suddenly couldn't hold her tears any longer. Luckily they were only a few and easily wiped away. She just had so many mixed feelings inside her. On the one hand she was still hurt, and on the other she was missing him so badly. And now she just felt so happy that she might have her best friend back.

"Oh, come here, my little cry-baby!" he chuckled and engulfed her in his arms. It was a typical Blaise-hug. He never touched her a lot, but always hugged her when she felt really sad. He rocked her slightly in his arms.

"Merlin, I even missed your smell. That typical Heywood smell." He mumbled into her hair.

She huddled up against his chest "I missed you too, Blaise! So many things happened, I wanted to tell you. But I couldn't. And now I.."

Suddenly she was yanked out of Blaise's arms and pushed back to the direction of their tables roughly. Before she knew what was happening Draco had stepped in front of her, shielding her from the second attack of a rather wild looking blonde girl, who was screeching at the top of her voice.

"Get your hands of my boyfriend you stupid slag! I knew you weren't good news when you walked into the school and now you want to steal MY boyfriend. Keep your distance from him or I'll hex your ugly face!"

Jade was in a state of utter shock. Draco was trying to keep the girl in his grip, so she couldn't jump down Jade's throat. Jade suddenly was remembered of a bolting horse and wouldn't be surprised if the girl would roll her eyes and spit foam.

Blaise, who had been quite as shocked as Jade, suddenly came to his senses again "Astoria! What on earth are you doing?"

Astoria stopped her frenzy and turned towards Blaise "Blaise, what are YOU doing? You told me you were going for drinks with your friends! And now I catch you standing here cuddled up to this.." (She used some rather inappropriate words to describe Jade) "You are supposed to be with me! I don't get it, Blaise!"

Jade felt really awkward now as if she was intruding on their personal affairs. She tugged at Draco's sleeve and beckoned him back to their table to leave the couple fight on their own.

Draco put his hand on the small of her back and asked "Are you alright? I saw her coming before you did. That was a rather mean shove, she gave you."

"Oh, I'm alright. I just feel bad. I really did not want to cause a fight between them. But he just hugged me, it's not like we were doing anything inappropriate. "

They sat back at their table and still could hear Astoria screeching at Blaise.

"You know" Draco said "Astoria is like that quite a lot. This morning Blaise hadn't wished her a Good Morning as soon as he sat down at the table and she went crazy, too. I don't understand how he puts up with her. It leaves him rather cold." But Jade had seen the look on Blaise's face and it wasn't cold.

* * *

A few minutes later Blaise returned and apologized for the whole scene. Draco pushed the two tables together so they could all sit at one larger one.

"I'm sorry Daphne, but your sister really went too far this time" Blaise said uncomfortably "Somehow I really don't know what to do with her anymore. I don't even know how it got this bad." He ran a hand through his short black hair.

Daphne nodded understandingly "Blaise, if there is one person on earth who knows exactly how tedious Astoria can be, it's me. I would totally understand if you just dumped her."

Blaise merely shook his head in thought and took a sip of his drink. He looked towards Jade and a smile crept onto his face. She sat on the chair right next to him; he pulled her towards him and planted a kiss right on top of her head and mumbled. "At least I got you back! I think nothing can really ruin this day!" The other Slytherins looked rather bewildered; apparently Blaise did not usually act like this. Draco looked as if he had smelled something foul, but Jade didn't notice. She was surprised at Blaise's behaviour, too. Usually he was much more reserved than this. He must have missed her badly. Jade guessed that he had experienced what everybody was always saying: Sometimes you finally realize how important someone is for you, when they're already gone.

The rest of the time in the Three Broomsticks was quite pleasant. Even though Jade couldn't engage in conversation in the way she could with her Gryffindor friends, the Slytherins were alright.

When it was getting late, everybody got up and made their way back towards the castle. Blaise, Draco and Jade walked behind the others.

Blaise moaned. "Oh no.. Now I forgot to look after Astoria again. I bet she'll be flying off the handle again at dinner."

Jade just looked at him questioningly. He continued "I know you ask yourself why I'm even going out with her. And right now I'm asking myself the exact same question. I got to know her at the end of last term and she was really nice. I thought she could be my new female friend you know. Kind of as a substitute for you, not really a replacement. So we got along great the first weeks, but then she wanted to go further. And she is rather pretty after all and I thought I could give it a try. Well, and that was when everything changed. She demands that I treat her like I would treat the girlfriend I loved. The only problem is: I don't care for her that much. I got together with her out of chance, not out of 'love'. And I thought things would develop themselves. But with her acting like this she is only pushing me away further. It's kind of tragic."

"Maybe you should talk to her about it. Tell her that the way things are you two will break apart sooner or later. Maybe it would be better to be really close friends before being boyfriend and girlfriend, you know. So that you really do care about her a lot and treat her accordingly." Jade advised him.

Blaise shrugged languidly. "I mean she was alright when I first met her. We'll see... maybe she is willing to work on herself." But he didn't look too confident saying the last bit.

Draco, feeling that he was intruding on their private conversation, had gone a little faster to talk to Miles Bletchley. Blaise nodded in the direction of Draco's back and said "So after all the talk about me, what is up with you? Malfoy is the last person I saw you getting friendly with. What are you playing at, Jade?"

Jade looked at Blaise with an innocent look on her face. "Nothing! We're just getting to know each other."

Blaise raised his eyebrows and grinned. "I already thought I would need to watch out for you, pretty lady. And now Draco is the first one, I'm keeping my eyes on."

"You don't need to watch out for me! I am capable of doing that myself." She said with mock arrogance in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm just saying. I heard some guys talking about you the other day. It's like you're my sister, I don't want to hear them talking about you that way. And I don't want anyone fooling around with you." He probably knew that he was sounding totally overprotective, but he had always been that way towards her; so Jade just nodded, knowing that he didn't mean too much by it.

She had the feeling that Draco was slightly bothered by the whole Blaise-reunion-thing. She hastened up her steps and caught up with him. Somehow it was supposed to be their day and she wanted to walk the rest with him.

He turned to his left to look towards her and feeling incredibly bold Jade linked her arm with his. She wouldn't have dared to take his hand, but linking arms was somehow less intimate and something she felt halfway comfortable to do. When it came to guys and making the first move, Jade was so incredibly shy. She never wanted to appear like easy prey or even obtrusive. But seeing that he had taken her hand several times now, she should really stop obsessing with these thoughts so much.

Draco looked at her with a tiny bit of surprise visible in his eyes. Then he smiled coyly and put his other arm on top of her hand and slid it down his left arm until he caught it in his hand.

Jade could feel the butterflies again as Draco, who was still looking into her eyes, entwined his fingers with hers.

* * *

As they reached the Entrance Hall, Draco told his Slytherin classmates to go ahead to dinner without him, he would follow in a minute. Blaise looked a bit disgruntled, but left without obeying.

The blond boy turned towards her, his head inclined and looking as if he was contemplating something.

How did it come that the parting at the end of a date was somehow one of the most important parts of the whole thing itself? It somehow constituted how everything went on. But before Jade could become more nervous, Draco had pulled her closer to himself and very gently had laid his arms around her waist.

The difference between Blaise's and Draco's way of hugging couldn't be more evident. This embracement was much more intimate and kind of amorous. And it made her heart beat faster.

He bent his neck and spoke softly in her ear "Have a nice evening, Jade!" and before she could even react in any way to his sudden closeness, they had already broken apart again. Draco apparently didn't want to press his chances. He just smiled roguishly at her and turned to make his way through the large doors and into the Great Hall.

Jade waited a moment until he was out of sight; she knew her cheeks were flushed by now and was grateful that he couldn't see. Merlin, the weird feeling in her stomach had really gotten out of control now. It had felt so incredibly great to be in his arms, Jade almost had the urge to giggle out of happiness. Slowly she began to follow Draco into the Great Hall, starting to go over every little detail of the day, analysing every little thing he had said or done. She knew she was a totally obsessive, but she was always like that if she really liked a guy. She felt her brain go fuzzy on the way to the Gryffindor table.


	10. Chapter 10

As Jade lay in bed that night, she realized that she hadn't been this happy since a long time. After the fight with Blaise, there really had been a huge gap in her life. It was such a good feeling to have her best friend back.

And on the other side there was Draco now. Somehow it really was weird that out of all the boys in school she had to like him. But Jade knew that she had to be careful; she really did not want to be the broken-hearted girl in the end.

* * *

On Sunday she met up with Blaise. They wandered around the school and the grounds of Hogwarts for several hours just talking about everything that had happened during the last months.

Of course Blaise believed that You-know-who had returned, but he thought about everything in the typical Slytherin way: as long as it didn't concern him or the people he loved, he wanted to stay out of everything. He was a pureblood after all, so he wanted the others to fight their own battles. He tried to convince Jade to adapt his way of thinking.

"Jade, I really think you should try to stay out of this whole conflict. If you're not on anybody's side, no one will harm you. And you are much too young to fight against the Dark Lord!"

Jade shook her head "But Blaise, Harry is even younger than I am! I don't know how everything will end yet, but I have a feeling that the war will come sooner than we think. And I will definitely not leave Harry and the others alone with this!"

Blaise suddenly halted, they were just walking through the Transfiguration courtyard, and he looked at Jade, biting his lip. "Oh Jade, I really hope you know what you're doing.."

Jade raised her eyebrows. Of course she knew what she was doing! She knew what was implied by saying she would follow Harry Potter. Now Blaise sighed "You're not really thinking I would ever let you fight them alone.. If you really decide to join the battle, I will be there right by your side." He grinned. "You would get your pretty butt kicked without me anyway!"

Jade smiled and shook her head, looking on the floor. Of course Blaise wouldn't abandon her, she knew that. Just like she would never let him fight on his own either. And suddenly she felt a heavy weight on her shoulders. If Blaise got hurt, it would be her fault. She looked at him, the same boy she knew her whole lifetime, and thought that it would just be so perfect if Voldemort had never come back and had just left them all to be the happy teenagers they should have been.

Trying to get these thoughts out of her head she changed the topic "So Blaise, did you talk to your girlfriend yesterday? Does she even know you're meeting up with me?"

Blaise grimaced; suddenly his mood had dropped a notch. "Uugh..Actually I really wasn't in the mood to talk to her yet.."

"Oh Blaise.. I hope you do it soon if you want to maintain the relationship. And furthermore, I really have no intention of getting my throat ripped by that girl." Jade added with a humorous look on her face. Blaise didn't even bother to answer, but started kicking little pebbles across the courtyard. Jade felt sorry for him; he really did not deserve to be in a relationship, which didn't make him happy. But on the other hand she knew that Blaise had difficulties to open up to people. With a mother, who had survived seven husbands, that had all died in rather mysterious circumstances, it was really no surprise, that he had trouble with trusting women. Whether Astoria was a person worthy of his trust, Jade couldn't tell. But he had said that they got along great in the beginning, hadn't he?

* * *

The next days were again filled with homework, Quidditch practice and short meetings with Blaise. The whole week she only ran into Draco once in the library, where they shared a table and talked a bit about their O.W.L.s. Draco had the idea that they could study together for their exams, when the time came. He said he was pretty at a loss when it came to studying with Crabbe and Goyle and would love to learn with someone who had at least more than three brain cells. Jade liked the idea: they would share some time together and she could repeat everything they currently did in fifth year.

A few days later Harry had found the perfect place for the DA meetings. It was the Room of Requirement on seventh floor, which transformed according to the needs of the person, who opened it. The DA meetings quickly became Jade's weekly highlights. It was great to see how everybody was advancing and it was a good feeling that they rebelled against that stupid Umbridge woman.

* * *

Slowly the first Quidditch match of the season was coming closer: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Angelina now tried to schedule practices almost every day and in the castle the number of attacks between members of the two teams increased considerably. Jade noticed that Draco was amongst the Slytherins, who tried to make fun of Ron every time they saw him, and she really didn't like it. She guessed she would just have to deal with it, seeing that when it came to Quidditch everybody got really competitive.

On the morning of the game the player's nerves lay pretty blank. Jade tried to have some breakfast, but somehow did not really feel she could stomach anything more than a piece of toast. Angelina had said that she would get her in the game today at some point and Jade really did not want to disappoint her. On her house table everyone, besides the team mates, was very cheerful and wearing Gryffindor colours. She looked over to the Slytherin table, where Draco was holding court and almost everyone around him wore a weird crown-shaped badge on their chest. It took some time for her to decipher the words etched on to them:

"Weasley is our King"

Oh no! That didn't sound too good! What devious plan did those serpents have today? After Blaise came over and wished her Good Luck for the game (he was probably the only Slytherin, who did not get excited at all about the game today), Angelina and the other two Chasers took Jade down to the pitch with them.

Outside it was a very cold, yet bright day. Alright conditions to play with, Jade thought. After everyone had changed and Angelina had held her last little talk they marched out on the pitch. As Jade wasn't in the direct line-up, she stayed behind and sat on one of the benches next to the changing room.

Madam Hooch blew in her whistle and the game began. Jade watched how all the players quickly rose in the air and zoomed across the pitch. Draco was always easy to distinguish with his blond hair gleaming in the sun. He was a very talented flyer; she had to give him that.

A few minutes later, Lee Jordan made a little pause in his commentary to listen to the singing over in the Slytherin section of the stands. Now Jade could make out the words in the song.

"Weasley was born in a bin

He always lets the Quaffle in

Weasley will make sure we win

Weasley is our King"

Jade was bloody furious! Those stupid idiots! She could not help but to stand up and start shouting encouragements at her team. She prayed to Merlin, that Ron would not let himself be influenced by this song. And right in that moment Warrington scored a goal for Slytherin and Ron made a total fool of himself as he had tried to save it. Swearing under her breath, Jade scuffed the ground with her feet.

The game went on until Slytherin had scored three more goals. But then, with a mutual gasp within the audience, Crabbe had sent a Bludger straight for Katie, who tried to dodge it, but it still hit her elbow, which was now angled away from her body in a very grotesque way.

Angelina, not wanting to lose any more time, shouted at Jade to get in the game. So she immediately sat on her broom and kicked off in the air. In the next few minutes the three Gryffindor Chasers fought their hardest, but only achieved one goal. And suddenly a murmur ran through the stands. Jade allowed herself a quick look and saw Draco and Harry neck on neck chasing after the Snitch. Only a second later, Harry rose triumphantly with the Snitch in his hand.

And then everything went black.

* * *

With the probably worst headache of her entire life, Jade slowly woke up. She was lying on some soft cushion and she was definitely inside again. Slowly she opened her eyes to the room surrounding her. She obviously was in the Hospital Wing and, reaching with her hand to her forehead, she had on a bandage over her head.

"Hey kid, I thought I heard you stir. You got a rather mean Bludger right against the back of your head. It was Warrington; after the game he just ripped the bat out of Goyle's hands and went for it. Broken skull, you know." Blaise was standing in front of her now, a book in his hand and a disapproving look on his face. Apparently he had waited on the other side of the screen, reading.

Jade looked over to the huge clock that hang on one of the walls. It was six o'clock; she had been out quite some time. Blaise went on "Your team mates were already here, they waited for you to wake up, but then got thrown out by Madam Pomfrey."

Jade smiled. "I bet they are having a crazy party right now. But why did she throw them out anyway?"

Blaise looked at her uncomfortably "Yeah, well, that's the other thing that happened after the game today... I.. Mh.. Well.."

Jade turned towards him. Hell, her head hurt even more when she moved it! "Spit it out, Blaise!"

Blaise let out a breath "Okay, well.. After the game there was a fight, actually Muggle style, between the Weasley twins, Harry Potter and Draco. They beat him up rather badly actually."

Jade's eyes widened in shock "What? How did it come to that?" Blaise continued with the story "I guess you heard the song, they were singing. The lyrics were written by Draco." Jade groaned, but didn't say anything. "And Draco thought it would be a great idea to provoke them even more after the game. He's always been a rather sour loser. But unfortunately the story is not even over yet. Harry and the twins have been given a ban from playing Quidditch by Umbridge."

Jade groaned even louder this time "For the next game?"

Blaise, obviously hating to be the bearer of bad news, mumbled "More for their whole lifetime, actually..."

Now Jade sat bolt-upright in her bed. Her head protested, but she ignored it. "WHAT? She cannot do this! That means we only have the Chasers and the Keeper left. That's preposterous!"

Blaise tentatively tried to shove her back in bed. "I know, Jade. Well, now to continue with my story about how Madam Pomfrey threw them out. Draco stepped by the Hospital Wing as they were sitting by your bed. I think he came here to look for you. Needless to say, Madam Pomfrey could just prevent your team mates from hexing him into oblivion."

"He would have deserved it.." Jade mumbled under her breath. Blaise nodded slightly "And somebody else came here during the afternoon. It was a bit weird to say the least. But Crabbe and Goyle carried Warrington in here, who was messed up rather badly. It took Madam Pomfrey quite some time to sort him out. Crabbe and Goyle told her that he was hexed by some Gryffindors, but they are bad liars. Pompfrey didn't even notice, but it definitely was no Gryffindor who cursed Warrington. I'm just glad, because if the person hadn't done it, I would have to go after this git myself!"

Jade smiled at her friend, who stared viciously out of the window. Now his dark eyes turned towards her face and softened. "Well, and now to you my little invalid; Madam Pomfrey told me to give you this potion after you've awoken." He moved towards her night table and took a little flask and a spoon in his hand. "She said you should only take two spoons of it initially. And another two spoons two hours later." Jade held out her hand, but Blaise drew the flask back. "Oh no, Madam Pomfrey explicitly told me to do it. You would topple it over anyway, look how unsteady your hands are! Now lean back and enjoy, my dear. Judging by the smell of this stuff, you're in for quite the treat!" The irony was almost dripping from his voice.

After Jade had gulped down the disgusting tasting liquid, Blaise had fed her grinning, she sank back in her cushion and closed her eyes. Somehow she was tired again. Maybe it was the potion. "Blaise, could you.." But before she could finish the sentence, she had already drifted off into a deep slumber.

Hours later she awoke again, she turned around to see Blaise, who had also fallen asleep in his armchair, with one hand still clutching the book and the other one holding a strand of her hair. He had obviously played with it, before falling asleep. She studied his face and was startled as suddenly he was looking back at her through his clever-looking, slanted eyes. He smiled and removed his hand to push himself up again in the armchair. "I guess it's time for another round of this tasty beverage." But before he could say something more, Madam Pomfrey had scurried around the curtain. "Mister Zabini, you are still here! I thought you had left hours ago. I'm sorry, but I think you have to leave your friend now. I have to look after my patient after all. You two can see each other tomorrow morning again ...at breakfast." She added smiling.

Blaise stood up from his chair and stretched, obviously feeling rather stiff after the long time in the chair. He turned towards Jade, gently patting her head through the bandage, a sympathetic look on his face. He mumbled. "Get well soon, little girl! I think I need to make a quick trip to the Kitchen now. I'm practically starved. Sleep well, Jade!.. And Good Night Madam Pomfrey!" He added in a smooth voice towards the nurse. And with long strides his tall figure vanished behind the curtains.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Jade awoke early and felt as rested as if she had slept a thousand years. Madam Pomfrey vanished her bandage with a wave of her wand and released Jade from the Hospital Wing after a quick examination. It still was very early, so Jade had the time to walk up to the Gryffindor Tower and have a shower before breakfast. It was Sunday anyway, so she took her time and met up with the others in the Common Room. Harry and Ron's mood was still icy and Hermione already had other important things on her mind: the caretaker and Care of magical Creatures Professor Rubeus Hagrid had returned and Hermione was determined to coach him, so that he would not be sacked by Dolores Umbridge.

Jade enjoyed a very long breakfast with Harry and Ron (Hermione had already left), who told her about Hagrid's story in hushed voices and recounted everything, what had happened after she blacked out yesterday, in detail. Now that she knew what Draco had said word for word, she was even angrier with him.

The three of them had a huge amount of homework to do due to the time-consuming Quidditch practices during the last days. While Harry and Ron directly went up to the Common Room after dinner, Jade had brought her bag with her to study in the library. On Sundays she often met Roger and the other Ravenclaws there and they would go over their homework together.

* * *

On her way out of the Great Hall she ran into Blaise, who was just crossing the Entrance Hall and heading towards the marble staircase. She jogged to catch up with him "Hey Blaise! Merlin, are you alright? You look a bit unnerved..." Actually she was being euphemistic. He looked as if he wanted to murder someone. As he caught sight of her he nodded, not even smiled.

"Yeah.. I was just on my way to look for you. Haven't seen you at breakfast and thought you might be still up there."

"I was a little late at breakfast today. Did something happen?" Jade was getting worried now. Blaise nodded shortly. "Where did you want to go? I'll tell you on the way."

Jade nodded and mumbled "Just on my way to the library." She was a bit relieved. It couldn't be that grave, if it could be told on the way.

Blaise took a deep breath and began with his story "So.. Last night when I came back to the Slytherin Common Room it was still pretty full. There had been a post-game celebration, even though Slytherin lost. Somehow most of them were still in high spirits. Possibly the twelve bottles of firewhiskey, Pucey had smuggled in, were a cause for this. So I walk up to my friends and suddenly see my '_girlfriend_' snogging Montague heavily over on one of the armchairs."

Jade turned towards him, her eyes wide open and her hand in front of her mouth. "Nooo! You're serious?" Blaise just nodded grimly and snorted. Then he said "It's not like I'm totally hurt or something. But it still is pretty disrespectful and bloody humiliating. Suddenly it was as if everybody was watching me and waiting for my reaction. So I walked up to the two of them, who didn't even realize I was there, and clapped him on the back and said something like 'Thanks mate, you're making dumping her so much easier for me!'" Blaise grinned evilly now. Jade shook her head smiling "That wasn't very nice.."

Blaise now looked appalled "I'm not being nice? Are you kidding me? This slag goes around snogging a complete idiot like Montague and I'm the bad one?" He was getting worked up by now. "And the story goes even further. This morning little Miss I-cheat-on-my-boyfriend-with-a-moron waited down in the Common Room for me to give me a tongue-lashing about how I treated her badly and would never please any girlfriend. She said, and just for the record I am quoting her now, that she had 'at least ten charming gentlemen who would just die to go on a date with her and did not have to waste any minute of her life with a sucker like me'. Yeah right! If Montague is the first one of these so-called gentlemen, I wouldn't even bother to look who comes next."

"I'm sorry, Blaise" Jade tried to calm him down. But he just shook his head and made a little hissing noise "Nothing to be sorry about, Jade. I didn't even trust her from the beginning. It wasn't a huge surprise that she would go behind my back like this. But still it was a crappy feeling." He came to a halt now, staring out of a window. His face turned a little more to its usual expression and he asked "Could I lend your broom for a while? I think flying would really calm me down right now."

Jade nodded "Sure! Angelina told me at breakfast that they put it in the broom cupboard down at the Quidditch Pitch after my little accident yesterday. She wrote me down the password to open it; I have it in my bag somewhere." Jade searched her bag for a moment until she found the little piece of parchment and handed it over to Blaise. He thanked her and was gone in a swirl of his robes.

Jade continued on her way to the library. If she saw that stupid Astoria girl, should she put her into place? Or was that nothing of her business? Probably it was best to just give her an evil stare, but ignore her the rest of the time. Jade cursed the girl in her head. Well, at least Blaise hadn't really been deeply in love with her and wasn't heart-broken by now. A heart-broken Blaise, what a weird image.

* * *

After she had found a secluded corner in the library, she studied for a good three hours until she felt the need to take a little pause. She had seen Draco walk into the library about half an hour ago, but he hadn't seen her and had sat down somewhere in the back of the place. She got up, packed her things and brought the books back to their shelves. She noticed she hadn't seen the Ravenclaws around today. Maybe they would come here later during the day.

She had just passed the doors, when a voice called her back; immediately followed by a second one hissing "No shouting in the library!". Unmistakeable the former was Draco's slightly raspy voice; she felt her insides cringe. She was mad at him and she knew that this conversation probably would end in a fight. And she didn't want to fight with him. But she had to tell him that he had angered her, hadn't she?

"Jade, wait a moment!" he jogged forwards, shaking his blond hair out of his eyes. Jade turned and crossed her arms in front of her chest, watching him expectantly.

When he had reached her, he said "I tried to visit you in the Hospital Wing yesterday, but they didn't let me through. I hope you're alright again. I hadn't even seen that you got hurt, until they carried you up to the castle."

Jade shot him a dirty look. "Yes, I guess you were too busy with something else at that time."

Draco suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable; his gaze did not even meet her eyes now. "I.. Well, I got into a small fight that's true.."

Jade furrowed her brow and said in an irritated voice. "A small fight? Really..Congratulations Draco! You must be so proud that your horrible behaviour got them kicked out of the team!"

Apparently Draco really did not like being scolded; he pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers and a slight pout was visible in his face now. Sounding as if he was the true victim, he said "Well, they did attack me after all.."

Jade rolled her eyes at him. "Oh please, don't even try to talk your way out of it! I know exactly what you said to them. And also I do know that you must have expected them to attack you! Saying things like these is just bound to get rewarded with a good punch in the face! You're really lucky that this was all you got!"

Draco sighed now and ran a hand through his hair. He looked quite exasperated. "Jade, I can somehow understand that this whole thing upsets you; you are part of the team after all. But to be honest, you just have no right to be this angry with me! I agitated some Gryffindors.. Big deal! That's practically what I did my whole school time! And I never promised you anything, Jade! I never said I was going to change the way I was for you!"

That last statement somehow knocked the wind out of her. It had hit home. She knew she was not just angry at him for being rude to her friends. Also she was so disappointed that apparently she did not mean enough to him to make him treat her friends with some more respect. If he really cared about her, he would leave them alone, wouldn't he? So maybe, he did not like her as much as she liked him. There she had it.

Now she hurt even more. But she did not want him to see it. So she tried to cover up her sadness with anger and looked out of the window, saying much calmer, than she really felt like "You know what Draco, I never promised you anything either. I never said I was going to be your friend no matter what. And if you treat the people, I like, like crap then maybe I have a problem with that... Oh, I knew from the start that the whole thing was a bad idea." She had turned around by now and started to walk away. She just wanted to get away from him before her own facade started crumbling down.

"Hey, wait a moment! Don't just walk off like that!" He had grabbed her arm and tried to hold her back. Yanking it out of his grip, she hissed at him "Oh, shove off, Malfoy!"

But he did not give up so easily and in a second attempt to hold her back, he succeeded and turned her around to face him. "Jade, come on! I really don't want to fight with you about this. And I'm sorry it upset you." Sensing that she wouldn't run away anymore, Draco loosened his grip and removed one hand from her arm to brush back a strand of hair, which had fallen in her face. Now Jade was the one with the pout. "You know, after I heard what Warrington did to you, I got so angry I even attacked my own team mate. Don't walk out on me, now!" he spoke in a soft voice to her.

"You did that?"

Draco only nodded and looked down into her deep brown eyes. Jade had a huge whirlwind of emotions inside her. She still was in a bit of a huff and wished he would show that he cared about her more clearly; besides she really did not like the way he treated her friends; but then there was this huge longing inside her to just forgive and forget and throw her arms around his neck.

"I'm still mad at you!" She knew she sounded defiant. But he smiled at her now, knowing that she would forgive him eventually. Evidently he couldn't resist the temptation and cupped her cheek with his hand, caressing her face tenderly. "Don't be.."

Jade wanted to melt into his touch; but she should not get diverted by his physical closeness. If they did not talk properly about what had happened, it was bound to happen again! So she took his hand in hers and removed it from its place. It just was too distracting. Was he doing this on purpose?

Her voice sounded much softer now. "I'm sorry, Draco. I know you never promised me anything. But when you try to hurt my friends, it just hurts me even more. I think I cannot deal with this after all." Still holding his hand, she looked down on the floor. She just prayed to Merlin that he would say something that made everything alright again.

Draco entwined his fingers with hers. "Jade, what if I did promise you something.. I guess it wouldn't hurt, if I left them alone.. at least for a while.. Or if I just tease them very lightly..Or maybe you would even allow me a few snide comments when you're not around? Teasing Saint-Potter and the Weasel just always makes my day.. It's a little mean of you to take that away from me now.."

Jade just shook her head, smiling. He knew that he sounded like a big child, didn't he?

"I'll think about it."

Draco smiled one of his big smiles. "That's all I ask for."


	12. Chapter 12

December arrived and the castle and its grounds were getting covered in snow. Soon the school inside was full of pretty Christmas decorations and even the Poltergeist effused some holiday spirit, floating through the building and singing his own versions of Christmas carols.

On a Thursday afternoon in the middle of December some of her Ravenclaw friends had asked Jade to join them as they were going ice-skating out on the frozen lake. Thinking it would be a great alternative to sitting in the library and studying all day, she went down to the lake with them.

* * *

The sky was bright and over at the Quidditch pitch she could see the Slytherins, who zoomed across the skyline, practicing for their next game against Ravenclaw on Saturday.

After they reached a corner of the lake where the ice was thick enough to skate on it safely, they charmed their own shoes into skates and made their first moves on the ice. It had been a long time since Jade had been ice-skating and she was feeling very wobbly on her legs. At least she wasn't the only one, who felt a little insecure. Much to the dismay of Marietta, Roger had brought his newest fling, a petite dark-haired Hufflepuff, with him; and apparently she was either a total failure, when it came to how to skate on ice, or she was just keen on getting a helping hand by Roger. Jade just smiled at them and got a little steadier on her own feet.

After quite some time of chasing each other around the lake, Jade had become rather cold with the freezing wind blowing into her face. And, unlike the Hufflepuff girl, she had no one to keep her warm. Not wanting to risk getting a cold, she left the others and skated, a little more graciously now, back to the edge of the lake.

* * *

She was just getting ready to walk up to the castle as she saw the Slytherin team return from their practice and walk up in front of her. Blond hair was gleaming in the winter sun. She hadn't talked much to Draco in the last few days, as school was really eating away at her spare time by now. Grinning sneakily, Jade picked up some snow from the ground and sculpted it into the form of a perfectly round snowball. And, with the accuracy of a true Gryffindor Chaser, she threw it after the boys. It hit its target quite nicely.

Draco turned around, a mean glare on his face, which turned into a sneer as soon as he had seen his opponent. He thrust his broom into the arms of one of his team mates and pulled up the sleeves of his Quidditch uniform. Smirking, he made his way towards her. "Oh no, you did not just do that!" he yelled over at her.

Jade prepared herself for battle; quickly she sculpted a few more snowballs, but Draco was even quicker and apparently trained when it came to snowball fights. Almost every shot of him hit its target, even though Jade noticed that he was not trying to hit her hard or anywhere near the face. But still she realized after a few moments that she was not standing a chance against him.

She had to seek some shelter if she did not want to be bombarded by his avalanche of snowballs. Jogging backwards she tried to hide behind one of the tall beech trees, which were growing next to the lake. Draco sneered at her "Why are you not giving up already?" just to be answered with a snowball nearly missing his face.

He chuckled "Okay, now you really asked for it.." Jade had just turned around the trunk of the tree as she halted sensing what Draco had in mind. His gaze was focused on the tree above her and with one fluent motion he aimed up in the heavily snow-laden branches with all his might.

Merlin, no! Jade did not even dare to look up after hearing rustling noises above her. And a blink of the eye later, she was showered in ice-cold snow. It creeped into her neckline and didn't even seem to stop. Somehow Draco had put a domino effect into life and Jade was buried under a heap of snow. Trying to shake herself free and puffing up snow, Jade heard Draco snickering as he was approaching her. "I'm sorry, Jade. I didn't even think it would work.." He couldn't suppress his laughter.

"I can't believe you just did this!" Now Jade had to laugh as well, even though she was bloody frozen by now. As she made her way out of the little avalanche that had crushed down upon her, she waved her wand a little behind her back; and soon the snow was attacking Draco on its own. Five little snow balls hit his chest before he could even react. He looked at Jade, scolding her "Well, technically that was cheating! I don't think, I should let you get away with this!" Jade's eyes widened as Draco made large strides to get closer now, a grim expression in his face. And letting out a little shriek, she turned around and ran for it. Thinking he would surely catch up with her on the open field, she ran through the snow towards one of the little gardens in front of the greenhouses. She reached the entrance gate and quickly made her way through the bushes and snow-laden plants in the garden. Just as she was passing by a little frozen fountain, she heard Draco come closer. Within the next moment he had tackled her to the ground and they rolled over to come to a halt next to one of Professor Sprout's magical plants, which also was thickly covered in snow.

Jade closed her eyes, expecting to receive a handful of snow in her face at the least. She had cheated after all; and Draco probably had some other mean trick in mind to pay her pack.

But nothing happened.

Her eyes fluttered open again and she suddenly realized that he was lingering right above her. His face was incredibly close now. Her stomach broke out into a butterfly parade at his sudden closeness. One of his gloved hands reached across her to steady himself in the snow and he watched her face intently like he was seeing her for the first time.

He moved his hand slowly and buried it in her hair. He came even closer now and right in that second Jade knew what he was going to do. Her eyes fluttered close again. She could feel his breath on her face, the warmth of his skin through the ice-cold air. Apparently he wanted to move slowly and to savour the moment, but Jade felt like it was consuming her like a fire from the inside.

His lips had barely brushed hers, it was more the idea of a touch, as they heard a swishing noise from above and a good deal of snow crashed down upon them. Draco shielded Jade from it with his back and looked up. The plant next to them giggled cattily. He sat back up and shook the snow from his robes, glaring at the still moving plant as if he wanted to rip it out of the earth.

Jade still lay in the snow, groaning inwardly. Now a stupid plant had prevented him from kissing her. It had been one of those moments and now it was ruined. She felt a tinge of disappointment well up inside her, but shook it off. At least it was clear, what he had just intended to do. The thought made her smile, as she sat up and looked at him; he returned her smile and stood up, quickly offering her his hands to pull her up next to him. He tenderly brushed some snow off her hair and said "You're lips are blue, you must be cold. Come on, let's get you back to the castle."

Jade nodded at him and shivered slightly. Draco took out his wand from underneath his robes and performed a warming spell over the two of them; then he took her hand and together they made up their way to the castle.

* * *

On Saturday Jade went to the Quidditch game between Ravenclaw and Slytherin with Angelina and Alicia. Angelina was keen on analysing the strategy of the Ravenclaws, as they still had to play against them this term. Jade felt a little pathetic, but she kept watching Draco, who flew in circles high above the pitch. Every time a bludger came near him, she felt a little shivery and once as he flew fast past the stand, she was sitting on, she could swear he had quickly looked at her.

The game was tough, but about fifty minutes later it ended after a little race between Draco and Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker. Cho had wanted to block his way to the snitch, but Draco, suddenly being much less the gentleman Jade knew, almost knocked her off the broom and proceeded to dive for the Snitch. He caught it and soared back up into the sky, obviously enjoying the ecstatic jubilation, which broke out over in the Slytherin curve.

Angelina snorted disparagingly and said "Well, with Cho's never ending stream of tears clouding her vision, Malfoy was bound to get lucky." The two other girls stood up to leave the stands quickly and Jade turned one last time towards Draco, who was flying around the pitch with his winning team. He caught her eyes and beamed at her; Jade would have liked to congratulate him, but knew he would probably not have any time for her after the game, so she responded with a little wave and turned to follow Angelina and Alicia.

* * *

Soon it was the last week before the start of the winter holidays. Finally Angelina had found replacements for her three banned players and had chosen Ginny as a new Seeker and two guys called Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper as the new Beaters. Jade had been there at the try-outs and knew that they were all good players, but definitely not living up to the standards set by their predecessors.

On Thursday they had their last D.A. meeting, which was mostly a repetition of everything they had learned so far. The Room of Requirements had been decorated by Dobby and after the lesson everybody wished each other a 'Merry Christmas'. Hermione and Jade noticed that somehow Harry was lacking behind, still piling up the cushions, they used for a softer fall when practicing stunning spells. Hermione nudged Jade in the side and motioned in the direction of Cho Chang, who was also still around. Jade understood immediately and the two girls quickly grabbed Ron and left with him for the Gryffindor Common Room. "Why are you two acting so weird?" Ron asked the two girls suspiciously, as they couldn't stop exchanging meaningful glances with each other. "Oh nothing, Ron." Hermione smiled at him.

Up in the Common Room Hermione began writing a very long letter on one of the sheets of parchment, which Jade had given her a few weeks ago, while Ron tried to finish his Transfiguration essay on the hearthrug. Jade just sat in one of the armchairs and watched the flames in the fireplace, thinking about everything that had happened in the last months. Christmas was near now and she was looking forward to seeing her family again as she had never been separated from them for so long. She thought about Draco, too. She really, really liked him by now and was curious to see what would happen next.

Just as she was dozing off in the armchair, Harry came stumbling through the portrait hole.

After a little investigation by Hermione, Harry confessed that he had just kissed Cho after the D.A. meeting. But somehow he was not as excited as Jade had expected him to be. Obviously the whole thing with Cho was much more complicated than Harry would have liked, seeing that Cedric had been Cho's ex-boyfriend and she was still in deep mourning. Soon everybody went up to get some sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Early the next morning, Jade was awoken by a very nervous-looking Hermione. She was bending over her bed and woke her up, whispering very fast "Jade, get up! Professor McGonagall just told me we are supposed to meet Professor Dumbledore in his office! Something must have happened! Ron and Harry are not in their beds! And neither is Ginny! Hurry up!" Jade jumped out of bed, alarmed. This sounded serious. Quickly she threw over the first clothes she found in her trunk, which she had already packed for the holidays. As fast as they could the two girls made their way to the Headmaster's office. Hermione nearly shouted out the password and the gargoyle leapt aside to reveal a stone staircase that was moving up on its own. Jade and Hermione moved up to the polished oak door in circles and shyly Hermione rapped the door with a griffin-shaped knocker, that was attached to the door.

It opened instantly and revealed the Headmaster, who sat behind his desk, apparently deep in thought. The room itself was very spacious and round. Its walls were filled with high bookshelves and many portraits of elderly witches and wizards, who all appeared to still be in a deep slumber. Jade curiously eyed some of the delicate looking silver object that stood on little tables throughout the office. Then her gaze returned to the headmaster again. Even though Professor Dumbledore already was very old, he emitted an incredible aura of power and Jade instantly became a little nervous being this close to him for the first time. His piercing blue eyes came to rest upon the two of them.

"Good Morning, Miss Granger, Miss Heywood, I was waiting for the two of you. Unfortunately the news, I have to bear you, are very grave indeed. Last night Arthur Weasley was attacked during an assignment for the Order. His injuries were nearly fatal, but thanks to a very peculiar dream of Mr Potter's, we were able to bring him to St Mungo's just in time." Hermione had clapped a hand over her mouth, her face white as a sheet. Jade somehow felt nauseous. Dumbledore went on "Mr Potter and the Weasley children are already at the Headquarters. And even though I would like to let the two of you visit your friends right now, I think, considering the current situation at school, it would be more prudent to wait for term to be officially over and let you board the Hogwarts Express with the other students. Professor Umbridge knows that Mr Weasley was injured and that I gave your friends permission to visit, but needless to say she was not amused by this. If your classmates ask you about what happened, you might tell them, if you wish. But I think it would be safest to try to not draw attention towards it even more." There was a moment of silence and then Dumbledore excused the two girls and send them to get some breakfast.

Hermione was close to tears and Jade tried to console her saying that Mr Weasley would probably be in good health again in a few days. After all the healers at St Mungo's could practically heal anything, couldn't they?

One thing that kept both their minds busy was the fact that Harry had somehow dreamt about the attack. Especially Hermione was deeply worried by this piece of information and couldn't wait to talk to Harry himself about it.

* * *

The classes seemed to be over pretty quickly this day and soon Hermione and Jade sat in one of the carriages and drove back down to the train station. Once inside the Hogwarts Express Hermione had to leave for the Prefect's compartment and Jade was happy to see Roger Davies, who immediately invited her into his own compartment.

She had a nice time with the Ravenclaws, who all were in a good mood, finally having made it to the holidays, and apparently hadn't even noticed that a few students had already left Hogwarts this night.

Quite some time later, Jade thought she should look after Hermione, as they had wanted to meet up after her prefect duties and she still hadn't shown up. So she pushed open the compartment door and made her way through the train, looking out for the distinct mane of bushy brown hair. Her own compartment had been close to the front of the train, so it was more probable that Hermione was searching in the back for her.

A few minutes later Jade had reached the end of the train; still no Hermione in sight. So Hermione had to be somewhere right at the beginning of the train. Jade sighed, somehow when it came to such simple decisions, she always chose the more complicated one. So she turned to walk all the way back again and halted; recognizing the tall figure, which stood at the end of the carriage.

"Well, if that isn't some sort of déjà vu!" Draco stood in front of her with a smirk in his face, his arms full of cauldron cakes, he had apparently just bought from the lady with the trolley, who just pushed it into the next wagon to sell her treats.

He turned around to Crabbe, who accompanied him, and deposited the cakes in his arms. "Go on without me, Crabbe. I'll follow in a moment." When he said this, his voice seemed a little cold; Jade recognised the arrogant tone in it, she hadn't heard for quite some time now.

He turned back again and made a few more steps towards her. "I thought I'd see you around today. I haven't seen you since the match. And speaking of, I was glad that you came to see it. I looked out for you afterwards, but you'd already gone." There was a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

Jade nodded "Yeah, I thought you might be busy after the game. You practically saved your team from losing, seeing that they were in a little bit of a deficit against Roger's team."

Jade thought she had seen Draco's brow furrow for a moment as she mentioned Roger's name, but she might have imagined it.

"Yeah, like I told you. Our Chaser's aren't the best this year. Against the Weasel King it wasn't such a huge problem, but the Ravenclaw Keeper is a little harder to deal with." He hesitated a moment, gazing out of the window. "I saw you sitting in Davies' compartment." He turned back towards her, his head inclined. "Where are your friends, today? I saw Granger, but Potter and the Weasley's seem to have vanished out of sight."

Jade stifled a groan. Count on Draco to notice every slight change when it came to her friends. What was she to tell him? Dumbledore had instructed them, that they could tell their classmates what had happened. After all Umbridge knew it herself. But would Dumbledore have allowed Jade to tell Draco, the son of a Death Eater? She had a bad feeling about this. Mr Weasley had been on assignment for the Order after all. And she had promised her friends that her friendship with Draco would only, if ever, affect herself. She did not want to put anyone else in danger.

Draco's eyebrows had risen by know, still awaiting her response. "Actually, Draco, there was a little accident tonight. They already left the school."

Draco's eyebrows rose even higher. Apparently he wanted more information. "An accident? Of what kind?"

Jade just sighed and her gaze rested on some third-years, who quarrelled in the compartment right beside her, not wanting to look Draco in the eyes right now. He obviously understood and he huffed at her "All right. I see.. you don't even trust me a little bit. I guess, I can understand why!"

Jade turned towards him again, eyes wide. Was he honestly offended now? By the look of him the answer was clear: his eyes were slightly narrowed and his lips tightly pressed together.

"Draco, this isn't about trust! If someone tells me something in confidence, then I am not going to parade it around the school. Even if I thought that it was completely trivial, I would keep it to myself! You can't be mad at me for this. The whole story doesn't even concern you. And if you told me a secret, I wouldn't tell anybody else either."

His face had softened a great deal now. "Yeah, I guess that's true. Actually this is something I really appreciate about you. You're trustworthy... unlike my _friends_. I could never tell them a real secret of mine. They would probably sell me out, if they gained enough from it. Slytherin, you know.." He shrugged it off.

That was pretty sad, wasn't it? Jade looked at him, taking a little pity on his lack of real friends. But what secrets couldn't he tell them, anyway?

Jade took a little step, getting even closer to him with her head cocked to the side. He watched her curiously. "Would you tell _me _a real secret of yours?" she aspirated with a smile, now very close to him. He grinned slyly at her "You want to hear one?"

He moved so his mouth was directly next to her ear. While he held one hand between his mouth and her ear, the other one had moved up to hold the back of her neck. Now it moved even higher, brushing her lips slightly with his thumb. He whispered "I can't stop thinking about what happened back there in the gardens. I catch myself fantasizing about how it would be to kiss you."

Jade reacted to this in a very new and different way. She didn't feel the butterflies anymore, but some very deep and warm feeling inside her. Something much more passionate. She wanted to just pull this boy close to her and crush her lips upon his. Maybe she should.

But now he moved again and came to rest his forehead against hers. His breathing was a little faster than it should have been and their lips were so close now, only separated by his thumb. After a moment, where the tension between the two of them was so thick it could have been cut with a knife, he breathed "Merry Christmas!" and pulled back. Shaking his own head slightly, almost in disbelief at his own will-power to pull back, he turned and started walking down the corridor.

Jade felt feverish and she didn't want him to just walk away like that again. In her head she was already holding him back and pushing him up against the wall of the train, just to finally release all the tension that had built up inside her. Suddenly this whole boy-girl-role behaviour seemed so stupid to her. If kissing him was what she wanted, she should just get it. And as she made the first brave step in his direction, the door of the compartment next to her flew open and three third-years got thrown out of it right in her way. It took some time to navigate her way around them and as she had passed the door at the end of the wagon, Draco was already a huge deal in front of her. Her courage sank. She really felt unworthy of being a Gryffindor right now. But maybe it had been a stupid idea from the start and the three quarrelers had just spared her a terrible embarrassment. This '_maybe_' somehow weighed her down.

* * *

Finally she found Hermione, who looked a little tousled "I'm sorry, Jade. I got hold up by some fighting second years; one of them used some rather nasty Conjunktivitus Curse. I don't even know where they pick up stuff like that." She sighed and followed Jade to their compartment. "I hope my parents won't be upset that I cancelled our trip. They wanted to go skiing with me over the holidays, but I really think that Harry and Ron need me right now."

Jade smiled at her "I think that you made the right decision, Hermione. Harry must be really upset after this dream. And Ron.. His father almost died after all. You're sure you want to travel there alone with the Knight Bus, though? My uncle would be glad to bring you there, I'm sure."

Hermione shook her head. "Oh no worries, Jade. I always wanted to travel with the Knight Bus, you know. But maybe you could accompany me to a side street, where we won't attract so much attention when calling it." Jade nodded enthusiastically at this.

A few hours later Jade finally was home again. Her aunt and their three house-elves had prepared a delicious 'Welcome Back' dinner for her. Jade felt so happy seeing them again. She had really missed them all, especially her house-elf Cinny. Cinny was almost as old as Jade's mother would be, if she still lived, and had grown up with her. Ever since Jade's mother died, Cinny had become something of a mixture between a nanny and mother-substitute. Even though Cinny was not exactly human, Jade loved her above anything, as she had always been there for her.

During the next few days Jade visited Grimmauld Place a couple of times. Mr Weasley was getting better much slower than everyone had expected and finally Jade got to know the complete story of Harry's dream. When he had dreamt of the attack, he had seen the scene from the attacker's point of view; a giant snake had sunk its fangs into Mr Weasley. Initially Harry had feared that he was being possessed by Lord Voldemort, but somehow it had to be some different kind of connection between them. Jade really thought that this was kind of alarming and was relieved when Professor Snape turned up in Grimmauld Place to tell Harry he would be taking Occlumency lessons after the holidays.

* * *

Two days after Christmas Eve, Blaise came over to visit Jade. They exchanged their Christmas presents after dinner like every year and then went up to her room with some tea and the cupcakes, Cinny had baked this morning.

Her room was very girly, completely decorated in white and very roomy. Next to her bed a huge double-door led towards her balcony, which was currently hidden underneath a thick layer of snow. Blaise lounged on her couch and sat his cup of tea down on the couch table next to the vase with fresh flowers, her uncle had given her. "Lilies? They are your favourites, aren't they?" he asked. Jade nodded, still standing in front of the couch table, not knowing how to begin what she was going to say. Blaise noticed that she had something on her mind and raised his eyebrows.

"Blaise, you know I always wished to become an Animagus.. and by now I'm really close to finally achieving it. I only tried to morph once and it was a disaster to be frank. But now I really prepared myself more thoroughly and I would like to try again. Somehow I didn't want to try in Hogwarts, in case I had to go to the Hospital Wing afterwards and explain what I had done. It should be more of a secret, you know. So.. Would you maybe just stay here, while I try to transform myself? In case anything happened, you could just call Cinny or my aunt..." She had spluttered the sentences out rather quickly, even though she didn't even know why she was feeling so nervous suddenly. Probably she just did not want to fail again this time.

Blaise took another sip of his tea and said "Sure, no problem. But please, don't hurt yourself!"

Jade turned her back on him and faced the big mirror that hang on one of her walls. She closed her eyes and tried to feel like she imagined a cat would feel. Somehow it didn't work. She turned around to Blaise again "I know this might sound stupid, but I think it would be better if I got on all fours." Blaise grinned sheepishly and Jade added "Don't ever mention this to anyone!", feeling mortified. So she got down on her knees and really tried to shut off the embarrassing feeling and the fact that Blaise was probably silently laughing at her right now. She fell into a deep concentration and before she knew what had happened, she noticed that something about her had changed clearly.

Feeling mortification well up inside her again, she heard how Blaise let out the laughter, he had been holding back. "Jade, I'm really sorry. But you must be about the ugliest cat-like beast I ever saw."

Jade opened her eyes and glanced into the mirror, stifling a shriek of horror. She had transformed into the body of something like a panther, but her skin had clearly stayed human. She looked ridiculously ugly. And that stupid Blaise just wouldn't stop laughing. She closed her eyes again, not wanting to see her own reflection anymore and tried to concentrate more on how it would feel to have fur. It would definitely feel less naked.

Finally Blaise stopped laughing, indicating that she had succeeded. And it was true: shiny black fur covered her entire body now. Wow, she had done it! She grinned making the jaguar in front of her bare its teeth. Blimey, her teeth were still human! Thank Merlin, Blaise hadn't noticed or he would have started laughing again.

She turned and walked around her room. She noticed her senses were completely different than in her human form; they were much more refined. She turned to walk over to Blaise, who looked slightly impressed by now. He held his hand out and she rubbed her head against it. Somehow she could smell him much more intensely; she probably would have recognized him 300 feet against the wind.

"Well, like this you're actually quite bearable, almost endearing.." he smirked at her. Reacting instinctively she bit lightly into his hand, just noticing that in this moment her teeth had changed. "Galloping gargoyles!" he bellowed "Don't come near me with those fangs! They look murderous!"

He stood up now and walked into the middle of the room. "Come here Jade, I want to look what your identifying mark is. There has to be something about you that distinguishes you from ordinary black panthers. Maybe it's your height, you are pretty small actually."

Jade sat down in front of him and he knelt down to take a closer look at her. It only took a moment before a smile crept into his face. He gently stroked a spot right in the middle of her chest and said "It's my ring, the pendant of your necklace. It's still here, like a white spot. First I just thought it was part of your pattern, but if you look close and know what to look for you can clearly recognize it."

He seemed to be pleased that it was his own present, which had become her Animagus mark. He even started playing a little with her, like you would play with a cat and it excited Jade greatly. Blaise was obviously amused by her enthusiasm, but after some time they both grew tired and ended sitting on the carpet in front of her bed. Blaise was massaging a spot behind her ears and Jade almost couldn't believe how something could feel so great and emitted a deep purr.

A few hours later Jade awoke again. The candles in the chandeliers had burnt down and the fire in the fireplace was almost dying out now, only crackling slightly. She was still curled up on her rug, but Blaise wasn't there anymore. She didn't even have to look for him to know that he had managed to crawl up into her bed by now; she could smell him there and hear his silent breathing. Now that she looked around, she noticed that her night-vision was much better than it was in her human form. Without making a noise she made her way to the bathroom, which was directly connected to her bedroom. She turned back into her human form carefully and got ready for bed. When she was done, she silently tiptoed over to her large queen-size bed. Blaise, who was still fully dressed, lay across the covers; so she crawled underneath them and quickly fell asleep.

She woke up the next morning, with a stabbing feeling in her side; she turned around, grumbling, but the stabbing didn't stop.

Finally she opened her eyes and turned around; it was Blaise, who was jabbing at her with his finger. "Blaaaise.. I'm tired. It's so early."

He answered her under his breath "Jade, I really think I should go now." Closing her eyes again and snuggling deeply into her pillow, her answer sounded a bit muffled "Why? Don't you want to stay for breakfast?" Blaise was still talking in a whisper "Yeah sure, but I really don't want to know what your uncle would do to me, if he found out that I slept in your bed tonight! He's always so protective of you; I don't want him to be angry with me. He would surely rip me into pieces!"

Finally waking up for real she looked at him again. "But it's you, Blaise. It's not the first time that we've slept in the same bed. I bet you never even crossed the middle of it during your sleep. Furthermore my uncle isn't even here at the moment; he's on a work trip." Actually he was on an assignment for the Order, which would probably take the whole day.

Blaise looked very relieved after hearing this news and sat up on the bed "In that case I'll take the breakfast. Cinny makes the greatest pancakes after all. I think I'm going to take a shower right now!" And he hopped out of bed and vanished into the bathroom. Jade turned around again, finally enjoying the whole width of her bed.

_A/N:_

_Thank you all for your reviews! They never fail to motivate me :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!_


	14. Chapter 14

Draco checked his reflection in the mirror with a foul look on his face. His mother had sent him to the hairdresser earlier this week, complaining that he looked like a string mop with his hair so long. Unfortunately the idiot at Diagon Alley had apparently gotten his certificate by pure bribery; to Draco the whole ordeal had the bitter aftertaste of violation. He should have known better to get out of that blasted chair when the giggling imp behind him enthused about this new trend he had spotted on some Muggle actor on '_television_' (.. whatever that was).

So now he stood in his room in the Manor and tried to cut the losses in any way possible. At the back his hair was extremely short, but at the front it almost fell over his eyes. He would have asked his mother to charm it into its old state again, but he knew that would only upset her. He heard a 'Crack' behind him and turned towards one of the house-elves of the Manor, who crouched down into an inferior position.

"Young Master Malfoy, Mistress Malfoy is waiting down in the drawing room, sir. Young Master Malfoy's friends are arriving soon." And with another 'Crack' it was gone.

The holiday season at the Manor never changed much during the years. The house was decorated festively and each year his parents showered him and each other in expensive presents. Only this year it was noticeable that his father was much less present in the Manor. Ever since last summer, he spent much more time in the Ministry or on secret assignments for the Dark Lord than with his own family. It was obvious that he was trying to deepen his connections within the Ministry even more now.

With her husband constantly out of the house, Draco's mother became somewhat restless and had offered to organize a little Christmas party for him and his friends on the second day after Christmas Eve. And even though Draco wasn't keen on having a party, he knew that it would calm his mother's nerves to engage herself in the preparations of something so ordinary and harmless as a Christmas party for her son. She had invited every one of his Slytherin classmates and almost all of them had accepted; only Blaise couldn't make it, not being too definite on the reason for his absence.

Slowly Draco walked out of his bedroom and made his way to the drawing room, where he could already hear distinct chattering. Obviously Pansy had arrived a little early.. what a surprise.. Ever since Draco had asked her out to the Yule Ball she had become a little clingy. He opened up the double doors and entered the drawing room, adjusting his face to a non-grim version.

Yes, definitely Pansy. She had dressed up for the occasion and strutted over to him, giving him a rather intimate hug. His mother looked pointedly away. Draco welcomed her and cautiously disentangled himself from her arms. He groaned inwardly; he liked Pansy as a person, but he disliked her getting this pushy. Soon enough the other guests arrived and after a moment his mother stole out of the room to leave them on their own. Everybody helped themselves to delicious treats from the buffet, his mother had set up, and then settled down on the couches and armchairs and started chatting about what had happened during their holidays so far.

Draco still wondered where Blaise might be right now and just thought he would ask Pansy (the one person, who would definitely have picked some rumor up, if there was one), as Daphne beat him to it. Pansy's face immediately turned into the narcissistic smile, which always told Draco that she knew something he didn't, and she let out a little giggle; then she answered in her rather high-pitched voice.

"Actually Daphne, my mother flooed over to Mrs Zabini just this morning to bring over some of her home made pumpkin pie; _Witch Weekly_ paid her Galleons for the recipe, you know. And I happen to know that Blaise is over at the Heywood's right in this moment. It makes me wonder if your little sister was jealous at the Heywood girl for a reason after all."

Draco felt a bitter feeling rise up inside him. So Blaise was meeting up with Jade. But why didn't he tell him? He shook his head to get rid of that ugly feeling. He knew they were only friends, right?

Daphne nodded now, comprehension shown in her face. "You know what, Pansy. I think I just had a small revelation. Blaise might not be much of a talker, but I always have been one of the few to whom he opens up occasionally. And I remember him telling little anecdotes about this friend of his, which always appeared to be the same girl. I think it was Heywood all the time! It makes perfect sense. Although in that case I think that the two of them are more like siblings than like lovers. He always talked about her like she was his little sister."

There! Daphne had said it: 'sister'. Nothing turned anyone more off than the word 'sister', right? So they might spend this evening together and celebrate Christmas, but that did not mean that Jade liked Blaise more than friends…did it? Argh! Draco hated having thoughts like these and right in this moment he fully regretted not having kissed her yet. If he had had the guts to do it, then there might be a little more clarity between them. He suddenly had a gross image in his head: Jade and Blaise, standing under the mistletoe.

Draco didn't deal well with jealousy. Usually he took whatever he wanted right away. And if someone else had it.. Well, then he just took it away from him. But with this girl it was something different. Somehow it was so much more difficult. Around her he never knew how to act; it was ridiculous.

Here with his friends, he always knew how to act. Right now, for example, he just put on the face "Draco – slightly bored with the occasional sneer" and he did not even have to do more to be perfectly accepted and even appraised by them. Well, maybe a snide comment here and there to round it off.

But with Jade. Merlin, she was so much more.. so much more than this. He always feared that she might one day take a second look at him, and decide to think nothing of him anymore (wait.. she had already done that once!). Therefore he felt the need to show her a different side of him and that was the problem. This different side was definitely NOT used to much socializing.

He ran his hand through his hair, quickly pulling it back as he felt the disturbing shortness of it. Why in the world, did he, who always was so sure of himself wherever he went, suddenly get all insecure when he met this girl? Right then and there Draco made a deal with himself: he would go for it right when the next real chance presented itself. No more Jade and Blaise under the mistletoe. He would claim her for himself.

"Having funny thoughts, Draco?" Pansy waved her stubby little fingers in front of his face. Suddenly Draco realized he was grinning; quickly remembering what they had talked about right in that moment, he answered.

"Yeah, I was just visualizing what Crabbe is going to do with the book about Fiendfyre, he got for Christmas.. I guess, reading it isn't an option.." he drawled lazily. Pansy let out a shrieky laugh at this and moved a little closer towards him on the couch. Trying to find an excuse to leave this suddenly much too small couch quickly, Draco stood up to fetch some more drinks for his guests. He walked across the room and saw the weedy looking Theodore Nott standing alone over at the marble fireplace, apparently examining the giant crystal chandelier that hung right above them. Nott was the son of a Death Eater, just like Draco, but nevertheless he liked to stay to himself.

Draco called out to him "Hey, Nott! Would you accompany me down to the wine cellar? Mother said she would not offer us any alcohol herself, but I know for a fact that there are a few bottles of rather exquisite wine down there." Theodore nodded quickly and started to follow Draco out of the room.

"Your father isn't here at the moment, is he?" the boy asked Draco as soon as they were outside the drawing room. Draco turned his stormy grey eyes towards him. Why did he ask such a question? "Actually, no, he isn't. Right now, he has to do a lot at the Ministry. The Dark Lord puts much faith in him after all."

Theodore said nothing for a moment, but looked even more nervous. "My father is not at home most of the time either. Even on Christmas Eve I was alone in our house."

Right, Nott had lost his mother, Draco remembered. He felt a little pity rise up inside him, but he shook it off quickly. "You cannot expect the Dark Lord to grant your father Christmas holidays, Nott. After all what is Christmas compared to the things He plans for us?".. Yeah, what indeed? Draco heard himself talk the talk, he had always heard from the older ones. Now he felt pity for himself.

The boy looked away now, apparently trying to look mesmerized by the ornate furniture again, but Draco had seen the pink tinge to his skin.

He led the way down into the basement vault under the Manor. The way was lit by many chandeliers, which were as highly polished as the ones upstairs, and their steps sounded harsh on the cold stone floor. When they reached the wine cellar, Draco picked out some rather expensive bottles, but avoided those, which his father favored. Behind him Nott let out a small cough.

"Draco.. Will you join Him after school? You probably will, won't you?"

Draco turned around, piling up bottles into Nott's arms and looked him in the eye, trying to find out what sentiment stood behind this question. What was Nott playing at?

"I think, Theodore, that the answer to this question was made before our birth. For both of us." He gave him a stern look and he thought he saw disappointment in the boy's eyes. So he didn't want to join… He had obviously hoped that Draco would answer him differently. He shook his head, more to himself than to Theodore, and led the way back up to the party again.

After the last one of his guests (Pansy obviously) had vanished in the emerald fire of the fireplace, Draco turned around to take a look at the room and flinched. His mother would murder him in his sleep, if she saw this. The one thing, which even pained him, were the wine stains on their carpet. Tracey Davis apparently couldn't hold her liquor very well. But after all it had been quite a wild party. Thank Merlin he had house-elves, who could clean up the mess that had been the drawing room, before his mother would wake up.

He turned around to make his way up to his rooms, while already undoing the top buttons of his shirt. Suddenly he ached for his bed and became more tired with every step he took. Finally he pushed open the doors that led to his bedroom and closed them behind him again. He scuffled over to his bed like a sleepwalker, kicking of his shoes on the way, and fell into his incredibly soft bed. It took only a second and he was vast asleep.

* * *

The rest of the holidays went over rather fast and soon Draco was sitting in the Hogwarts Express again. He shared a compartment with his usual friends and listened how they talked about the next Hogsmeade weekend. Apparently it was on Valentine's Day; he couldn't have _not _noticed this coincidence as Pansy repeated it several times, while glancing in his direction. Draco grimaced; he had wanted to ask Jade out again for the next Hogsmeade weekend, but it angered him that it was on Valentine's Day. That was so cliché.. Just his simple question would imply so much, seeing he was thereby asking her to be his 'Valentine'. This forced romance was something Draco quite detested. Roses and chocolates and, he remembered smirking, ugly little singing Valentine dwarfs. Well, he could ask her out without admitting that he knew when the Hogsmeade weekend would be. Yes, that was a better idea. And he wouldn't ask her too soon; no need to appear desperate.

He hadn't seen her in the train yet and he felt that right now was a good time to patrol the corridors a bit. Most of the younger students already knew him and behaved immediately when he came in sight. He liked the feeling it gave him; they respected him. Nevertheless he caught some first years trying to 'duel', actually they were just shooting golden and red sparks at each other, but Draco took the opportunity and confiscated some of their sweets... as a punishment, of course. Chewing contentedly on one of _Drooble's Best Blowing Gums_ he made his way further down the train. He caught sight of Jade, sitting in one of the compartments; but right now he did not feel the need to walk in there and sit down next to bloody Scar-head and the Mudblood for a nice little chat. Merlin, he missed spitting out that word at the bushy-haired girl. It never failed to rile her up. But probably Jade would 'not appreciate' and by that Draco meant 'hex him into bloody pieces'. Draco smiled; she was a fiery one, wasn't she? He moved on before anyone could catch him staring into the compartment, even though if anyone had noticed he could still pretend he had tried to give Potter the death stare.

During the first week back at school Draco only saw Jade a few times, but there was no way he could make his advances in the middle of the library or during dinner. But he took care that in the future they could meet somewhere more private. She had agreed to study with him for their O.W.L.s after all and they couldn't practice spells in the library and neither could they meet up in their Common Rooms. So Draco had asked Professor Snape after his first Potions lesson, if he could recommend him a more secluded place to study undisturbed. And thank Merlin his favorite teacher didn't disappoint him and handed him a key for a private tutoring room on sixth floor a few days later.

It was on the same day when rather grave news reached Hogwarts: ten Death Eaters had broken out of Azkaban. That meant good old aunt Bellatrix was back to mingle in the Wizarding World. Draco had never met her in person, but had heard enough 'interesting' stories about her to deduce that she was slightly fanatic. And somehow the break-out even scared him a little bit. It meant that the Dementors where no longer under the control of the Ministry and when ten Death Eaters could escape, maybe other psychopaths were already making their way out there.

On Friday afternoon he decided that it was time to ask Jade out for the Hogsmeade weekend and set out to look for her, quickly succeeding in the library. She sat next to two Ravenclaw girls, the Seeker and her girlfriend, and was bent low over her copy of 'Advanced Potion-Making'. He sidled up on the bench right next to her and apparently startled Jade turned around. Those brown eyes never failed to mesmerize him. "Hey there! What are you working on? Potions?" he asked her in a hushed voice.

Her full lips turned into a smile "Just another essay for Professor Snape; he had a rather bad temper this week. And that's saying something."

Why was it that he somehow could resist anything but the temptation to touch her? He moved his hands up and started to play with one of the long curls that fell around her shoulder, it was incredibly soft. "You might have heard that there is a Hogsmeade weekend coming up. I wanted to ask if you wanted to meet up with me..?"

Jade's face suddenly fell. Hell, no. He was too late. Someone else had already asked her! Draco felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Now she began to talk "I really wish I could, but Angelina has booked the Quidditch pitch for that whole day. She wants one full day of intense training before our next match. I'm really sorry, Draco!"

Well, being rejected for Quidditch was definitely less hurtful than for another guy. Draco nodded "Oh no worries. I'll bring you some treats from Honeydukes for after the training." He flashed her a boyish smile and moved to stand up; then he hesitated for a moment.

"And Jade, I found a perfect place for us to study for our O.W.L.s. We have to start revising soon if we don't want to do everything last minute. Maybe I could show you the room on Sunday after lunch? I haven't even been there myself." Now she smiled again, looking incredibly pretty. Maybe he should just assault her right here and now after all.

In that moment Madam Pince, who probably had the sharpest ears known to mankind, appeared around the corner of the book isle and shot them a pointed look. He should probably end the conversation quickly, before she threw them out of the library. He stood up from the bench and Jade whispered up to him "Sure Draco, that's sounds great!" He gave her a quick nod and turned. He hadn't even made one full step when an excited whispering broke out behind him.

"Oh Merlin, Jade! Draco Malfoy has just asked you out to be his Valentine! The Hogsmeade weekend is on the 14th of February!.."

Draco had never wanted to slam his head into the wall more. Idiotic girls!

* * *

On Sunday after lunch Draco was waiting for Jade in the Entrance Hall, leaning against the wall casually and testing out how much he could scare the first-years just by casting dark looks. Ha! The little curly-haired boy had actually jumped. He was still snickering to himself when he saw the girl turn around the corner; time to act his age again. As she made her way through the mass of students, which was streaming through the Entrance Hall in all directions, Draco felt this weird little feeling well up inside him again. A mixture of fondness and excitement and again he couldn't hide the smile that made its way into his face.

Just as she was reaching him one of those little midgets bumped into her, almost knocking her petite frame over, and the books, she had been holding, crashed down on the floor. The little boy took one look at Draco and quickly ducked down to pick up the books, squealing "I'm sorry, Miss. I didn't mean to walk in your way." Jade smiled at him and said, amiably "Oh no worries, really." The boy shot Draco a fearful glance, as if he was awaiting a punishment. Draco recognized him now, it was a little Slytherin. He wanted to spit out something intimidating at him to show him that he couldn't just wander around the school and run over the girl, Draco liked; but he refrained from doing so, thinking the girl in question would probably only get the impression he was being a bully again. So instead Draco ignored the midget and took the books out of Jade's arm, they looked pretty heavy after all.

"Here, let me carry those for you."

She beamed at him and followed him up the marble staircase.

"So Draco, how did you find this room? I asked my friends if they knew a place, but they could only suggest some of the empty classrooms, although they are accessible by all of the students."

With a hint of pride in his voice he told her how Professor Snape himself had given him the key for his private tutoring room. After all there weren't many students who could pull off something like that. They were just walking past the library on fourth floor, when Draco heard someone getting closer behind them. He shot a quick glance behind him; it was Blaise.

"Hey!" Blaise called out as he caught up with them. "Where are you two going? Coming from the library?"

Jade turned around to the dark-skinned boy, smiling. "Blaise! No, actually we were just going to study a little. Remember how I told you that Draco and I wanted to study for our O.W.L.s together? He found some place where we can study and practice spells together."

Somehow it annoyed Draco how Jade told Blaise everything. It should have been something between the two of them. He knew what was going to happen now.. and he was right. A few minutes later they continued up to the room in sixth floor, Blaise in tow. His mood had suddenly dropped a few degrees.

Finally Draco found the hidden door behind the tapestry of three dancing banshees, Snape had described to him, and twisted the antique-looking key in the lock. Stepping into the room, Draco let out a whistle. It was a high-ceilinged circular room in one of the towers with beautifully-decorated windows, which gave them a spectacular view over the lake and the Forbidden Forest. A large table with comfortable-looking chairs stood in one side of the room; several bookshelves close by. While on the other side there was a huge marble fireplace surrounded by comfy armchairs and a large couch.

"Wow, Draco. This is just perfect." After Jade had made a small round about the room, especially examining the bookshelves, she approached Draco, who was watching the grounds of Hogwarts through one of the largest windows. She came to a halt right next to him and followed his eyes. Draco snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, ignoring the presence of Blaise, who was currently lounging on the sofa and igniting a fire in the fireplace with his wand. He nuzzled his face softly into her hair and mumbled "You know, it took quite some convincing arguments to make Snape trust me with this key. But I thought it would really be worth it..". Merlin, he inhaled her scent now and it took his breath away. There was something sweet and very sensual in it..

She turned his eyes towards him with that rare doe-like look of hers. Outside in the castle he often caught her with a fierce look on her face, as if she wanted others to keep their distance. But every time he really got close to her like this, he saw a much more vulnerable side of her. He was very close to her now and could count every one of her long, dark lashes. And even though they weren't alone, Draco took her face into his hands and placed a tender kiss on her forehead.

It might have only been a very little kiss, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach intensified tenfold during this close contact. Merlin, suddenly it came crashing down upon him how much he liked this girl. He never had felt like this in his life. And holding her like this and kissing her somehow made him feel so incredibly ..."something".. he couldn't even describe it. He couldn't really place that feeling. All he knew was that he was not going to lose this girl. Ever.

He pulled her towards him and rested his chin on top of her head; it was a perfect fit. Then he felt her snuggling slightly into his chest and thought he might explode from the sheer happiness he felt right now. He knew that this pure feeling of being happy, unspoilt by any kind of gloating or maliciousness towards others, was something he very rarely felt.

He placed another kiss on top of her head; now that he had started it, why should he ever bother to stop again? But having the distinct feeling that Blaise was currently burning holes into the back of his cloak with his eyes, he finally let go of Jade and suggested that they could start working on their revision schedule for their O.W.L.s. They sat down at the table and started working. For the rest of the day, Blaise wouldn't leave Jade's side even for a minute. Like a blasted dog, Draco thought.

* * *

During the next few weeks they met up three times and somehow each time Blaise just _happened _to be around the corner and joined them. He never got openly offensive towards Draco though, it was more like it seemed to put his mind at ease when he was with them when they met.

After the second time up in the room, Draco had finally understood that Blaise did not trust him whatsoever, especially when it came to his best friend. So it was not jealousy, but pure concern and maybe a feeling of responsibility that kept Blaise around. And Draco couldn't help but secretly admire the friendship the two of them shared; although friendship was not the first thing that came across his mind when he looked at Jade and to his distress snogging her in front of Blaise really wasn't an option.

And when Valentine's Day loomed closer, he decided that even though it might be cheesy beyond all bearing he would nail that day down as the day where he would even go as far as to poison Blaise to finally have a moment alone with her. It was his own personal deadline.


	15. Chapter 15

On the 14th of February Draco and his friends slowly made their way down to the village of Hogsmeade after breakfast. Somehow Draco could smell that there was something off; the others knew something he didn't. He already had a pretty good idea what this conspiracy might be about, when suddenly all of the others lacked behind and only Pansy was there to keep up with his step. Of course… he had guessed right.

"So Draco, where do you feel like going today? Maybe go for some coffee?" her high-pitched voice already made his head ache. Somehow he really did not feel in the mood for her today.

"Actually, Pansy, I was only thinking of the usual: a trip to Zonko's, some sweets at _Honeydukes _and a few butterbeers at the _Three Broomsticks_… something like that" Draco answered in his usual lazy drawl. He noticed Pansy was a little nervous by now and her voice even shot a few notches higher.

"I thought, seeing that it's Valentine's Day, we could spent the day without the others." She shot him a hopeful look, but obviously could guess his answer already from his strained facial expression. They were walking past the Quidditch Pitch right now and Draco looked up to watch a blur of red and gold shoot across the pitch headed for the goal hoops. He would recognize the mane of chocolate brown hair everywhere. Pansy had apparently followed his line of sight and now there was a new note to her voice; it was malice.

"I heard that you asked her to be your Valentine's date, Draco. The Heywood girl. I really don't understand what you see in her, Draco. Don't you remember what she did to me back then?"

"Well, I wasn't there myself when it happened, but rumor was that you really asked for it, Pansy. You have to learn that not everybody will put up with your disrespectful behavior. And people like her will definitely stand their ground."

Apparently Pansy did not quite know what to answer to this and started now with her favorite occupation: trashing Jade. Between all of the ridiculous insults Pansy was currently spitting out about Jade's hair, skin and clothes, there was only one sentence Draco really heard.

"And last week, when I came a little earlier for Herbology class, I saw her getting out of one of the Greenhouses with Roger Davies. The two of them looked rather disheveled! I always thought she was a little skank!"

Draco snorted at this. "Pansy, I know for a fact that the sixth-years are currently studying Devil's Snare, which would explain why they looked rather tousled." Actually, Jade had told him herself about the Devil's Snare; but why bother telling Pansy too many details?

The latter one was scoffing now "Yeah right, Draco. That might be what they call what they were doing, but I think that Heywood might have taken a little ride on Roger Davies' _Devil's Snare_ after all.."

That was disgusting.. Draco hated it when Pansy was being this crude.

"You know what Pansy, I think I forgot to tell Montague some details about our next Quidditch practice. I'm better off quick, before it's too late for him to reschedule." He lied easily and jogged away from Pansy as fast as he could without looking too much as if he fled from her. He could hear her screaming something and only understood the words "Potter" and "Chang". But he didn't care enough to turn around again.

* * *

He arrived in Hogsmeade much earlier than his other friends and felt a little forlorn; usually he always had his cronies with him. But then he took the opportunity to wander through the more offside parts of the village. He actually enjoyed it to be only by himself for a change and found many interesting shops and side streets. Somehow he couldn't stop himself from looking for something little he could give to Jade. He didn't really know why, but somehow he wanted to buy something pretty for her. And just as he contemplated walking back to the jewelry shop, he stopped himself. He had a sudden horrid vision of himself standing in front of Jade with presents and a bouquet of roses in his arms… on Valentine's Day! Since when had he become such a love-sick fool that was dripping with kitsch?

With all due respect for real romance and nice gifts for pretty women, it really didn't need to be today and not so early into their _not-yet-_relationship. Although this bracelet, he had seen last time in the window display, almost screamed for him to come back and buy it… Maybe another time. He started strolling through the little streets again, when he suddenly heard a rustling noise behind him. He turned around and nearly let out a shriek, which would probably have put his manhood into shame. But how in the name of Merlin's shiny whiskers had this girl found him again?

"There you are Draco, I've been looking for you everywhere. Why did you suddenly run off like that?" She pouted slightly, even though it did NOT make her look cute, only more pug-like. Draco didn't know why exactly, but ever since he met Jade he wanted to keep Pansy further away from him. Last year her advances somehow hadn't annoyed him this much.

"Like I said, Quidditch stuff, you know. Well, all right then. Let's meet back up with the others." He strode past her, but she didn't move from the spot.

"Draco, wait a moment. We are only meeting them in about 2 hours and I really don't want to wait for that long in this dirty pub. Why don't we just have a cup of tea in the meantime? Look, this café right over there is really rather nice." Pansy motioned towards the shop behind her and Draco read the sign above it, which said "_Madam Puddifoot's Tea Room_" in an ornamental script.

Draco took one look inside it and had never wanted to stab his own wand in his eye more. The café looked like the epitome of tackiness and just the bare thought of going in there with Pansy almost made him run for it.

Even though the windows were steamed up from inside, he could make out many small tables, all of them occupied by couples, and somehow it looked like a confetti bomb had exploded in there. When he actually saw cherubs flying around through that shop, he knew that he would rather walk into the _Three Broomsticks_ butt-naked than visit this tearoom of awfulness.

"Pansy, I'm sorry. But I feel this is really not my scene. I.." Pansy interrupted him, letting out a loud shriek. "Look, Draco! Chang and Potter are in there!" The shriek now turned into maniacal laughter and as Draco looked inside the shop more closely, he could not only make out Potter and his little girlfriend, but also Roger Davies, who was currently glued to the face of some Hufflepuff. Looked like some other girl was enjoying Davies' _Devil's Snare_ after all. Apparently Pansy had seen the second couple too, as she had stopped laughing and followed Draco back to the main road begrudgingly.

After they had visited the usual shops together they finally reached the _Three Broomsticks_. And as Draco made his way through the bar, he saw a very unexpected face. Rita Skeeter was sitting at a table with none other than Hermione Granger! As Draco approached them, he could see that Rita Skeeter was looking a great deal shabbier than he remembered her; her claw-like red-painted fingernails were chipped and her hair looked quite unkempt. Now that he thought of it, he hadn't read one of her usual articles for quite some time.

He approached the table and drawled in an icy tone. "Well, well, Granger. What are you doing here? Trying to sell off another one of your little love stories like last year? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I really think no one wants to know any details about your _muddy _love life."

The Mudblood turned her bushy head to look at him and retorted in her bossy voice.

"Well, funny you mention it, Malfoy. I always thought you were the one who put all those imaginary details out there in the first place!" Well, she certainly had a point here. He could throw something even meaner in her face now, but she would probably just run off to Jade, so he bowed his head a little.

"Touché, Granger!" he said and smirked at the thunderstruck look on her face. Smoothly he made his way around her table and settled down at the table furthest away from her, where he couldn't even see them. He would find out what Granger was doing with Rita Skeeter sooner or later anyway.

* * *

A few hours later Draco finally stole away from his friends and walked back up to the castle in the fading light of dawn. He did not know exactly at what time Jade's training would be over, but he wanted to catch her before dinner. He still hadn't settled on where he was going with her today, but he had a few things in mind from which he could choose: either a midnight picnic up on the Astronomy tower, a cozy night with some wine and snacks from the kitchen in their study room or a late-night walk around the school grounds. While he thought the idea with the picnic was great, it would be a complete disaster if a teacher found them. So basically the study room was the safest place, but also the most boring idea. He would have to decide when he saw her.

He looked over to the Quidditch pitch and saw that the Gryffindor team had just ended their practice. They walked over the grass with grim looks on their faces, every one of them thickly covered in mud. He waited for Jade in the Entrance Hall and had to grin as she finally came into view. Usually she was always very neat and Draco liked that she was one of those 'clean' girls. Even though her hair was framing her face in wild waves, it usually was always shiny and well-groomed. But right now she had splatters of mud all over her face and her hair looked tousled by the wind.

"Well, I thought you had said you were going to play Quidditch, not roll around in the mud like pigs all day."

Jade offered him a strained smile, while the Gryffindor Captain shot him a vicious look and the Weasel king bumped into him hard with his shoulder as he walked by.

"No need to resort to violence, Weasley. We don't want you to follow the lead of your brothers after all.." Draco said as he took care of brushing off his robes around his shoulder, not wanting any of the Weasley's dirt staining them.

Jade didn't even bother to give him a scolding, she really seemed to be worn out. As the other Gryffindors were already proceeding to the Great Hall for dinner, Jade said "Training was a disaster. It's so hard with all the new players. We are practically a completely new team and we really need a good dose of luck to win the next game."

Draco would have liked to pat her back or something, but she was so dirty; therefore he contented himself with setting up a sympathetic look on his face. She let out a sigh now "The only thing I'm really craving now is dinner and a long hot bath. But seeing that we are five girls in the team, the bath probably will be cut rather short."

Draco looked up as if he had heard a codeword. _A Bath_? Well, certainly..

"Jade, I think I have a little surprise for you. Meet me up after dinner, okay?"

"Can't we meet up later when I'm freshened up? I feel pretty disgusting right now and I really want to get out of my uniform."

Draco just shook his head, not wanting to tell her what he was planning and just said "I'll wait right here for you." and turned to walk to dinner.

During dinner Draco kept playing out all the different alternatives of Jade's reaction to his new plan in his head. She could either send him back to his Common Room right away or the evening could get pretty .. _steamy_. He couldn't control the impish smile that made its way onto his face.

He looked over to where she was sitting at the Gryffindor table. He might be imagining it, but he had the feeling that something was going on there. The group around Pot-head was chatting animatedly; what had this boy planned again?

After dinner he didn't even need to wait for Jade, as they got up from their tables at pretty exact the same moment. He caught up with her and together they made their way up the marble staircase.

"Had a nice dinner? I couldn't help but notice all the whispering that was going through your table. What was going on there?" he asked her directly. With Slytherins he might have tried to get the information out of them more sneakily. But Jade would see through advances like those anyway and if it was something she could tell him, she probably would.

"I guess I can tell you; you would probably hear about it soon enough anyway. Harry gave an interview today about everything that happened last summer; it will be published in a magazine."

Ah, that figured why Rita Skeeter had been in Hogsmeade today. "What did he tell exactly?" he asked her, suspiciously.

"I don't really know, but he did explain what happened back on the graveyard, where the boy died... I'm really curious how Umbridge will react to this. She'll probably just send out another Educational Decree and ban the entire magazine or something."

A foreboding feeling made its way into Draco's mind; his father had been on this graveyard after all, he had deduced that from the comments his father had made at that time. If his family's name appeared in this magazine, Potter was going to pay for it. But right now he pushed these thoughts out of his mind and led Jade through the castle up to the fifth floor until he had reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered and muttered a password to the fourth door on the left of the statue.

Immediately the door swung open and Draco led Jade into the Prefect's Bathroom. It was a very luxurious bathroom, completely covered in marble with a pool-like tub surrounded by countless golden bath taps. Draco knew that from every one of those taps different sorts of water, bubbles or foam would run. Over at the other side of the room a pretty mermaid waved at them out of her picture and quickly presumed combing her hair again. Draco made his way over to a marble bench, where fluffy white towels were laid out.

"Merlin, I never saw such a nice bathroom.. and this tub. I guess without magic it would take ages to fill. This is so thoughtful of you!" Jade beamed at him. She walked over to the many taps and tried a few, looking delighted at the little bubbles that flowed out of it.

Draco sat down on the marble bench and watched her. He would not push himself upon her; either she would invite him to stay or he would go on his own. By now she apparently had decided which taps she liked most and let them run; the tub slowly filled itself. Now it was time for his acting skills.

He stood up and stretched; then he slowly turned towards the door. Jade had already looked up "Where are you going, Draco?"

"Oh, I just thought I would leave; so you can take a bath and relax a bit." He noticed how she quickly looked to the tub and back at him again. He could see that she wanted him to stay, but was too shy to ask for it. Cute little girl.. So he added casually "Unless you want me to stay, of course."

Her pretty lips formed into a smile again. "You know, it's such a big tub and I'm only such a small person."

Draco felt exhilarated. So he was going to share a bath with Jade tonight... and maybe a few kisses if he was lucky. He chuckled inwardly._ In your face, Blaise!_

Jade had made her way up to him. "You need to turn around while I change out of this dirty Quidditch gear."

Draco deduced from that that she was probably not going to bath naked. Well, he had never _really _gotten his hopes up for that to happen anyway. So he turned around and started to untie his shoe laces. What was he going to wear by the way?

When he had stripped down to his pants, he asked her "Are you decent?" Her reply came back very quickly "Just a moment… Alright! You can turn now!"

Draco turned around and stifled a moan. She looked ridiculously hot. The school robes always hid her pretty figure, but right now it was all out there in front of him. She was very slender, but still toned. He let his eyes wander down that flat stomach of hers. Why was her skin so tanned? Might be her Brazilian ancestry (he did not believe Pansy's story about how Jade took baths in self-tanning potion). He probably looked like a ghost next to her. Draco barely registered that he had let out a silent "_Wow_!" He immediately regretted not keeping his stupid mouth shut. How lame was that? He gave himself a mental slap as he quickly tried to cover it up "Did you just conjure that bikini up? It's a pretty nice piece of spell work."

Apparently she hadn't noticed his little slip-up and looked down upon her white two-piece. "Actually I just transfigured something. The thing about conjuring up things is that they might disappear again. I didn't want to take the risk. Shall I help you with those?" She motioned towards his pants, smiling.

"Please, I never was great at charming clothes." He watched how she took out her wand and pointed it at his lower region. She'd better concentrate right now.

After a few seconds of apprehension, Draco looked down upon him and noticed that she had transfigured his pants into some black boardshorts. She shot him an enquiring look, apparently trying to figure out if he liked the shorts. He smiled at her and she turned her wand towards the golden taps to make them close again. The tub was already over-flowing with lilac foam and golden bubbles; it smelled like a giant bouquet of flowers had exploded in here.

Jade turned around to put her wand back down on one of the marble benches and Draco used the opportunity to sneak up behind her. He engulfed her in his arms from behind and raised her up in the air. Merlin, was she a flyweight. Jade was squealing a little as he made two big steps towards the bath tub and jumped in with her still in his arms, splashing water all over the bathroom.

As the two of them emerged from the water again, he had already let go of her. She was slicking her hair back out of her face with her hands and slapped him lightly across his chest.  
"Merlin, Draco! Don't do that again!" but she was laughing now. He noticed that she had painted her nails dark today. Initially he had thought they were black, but in the golden light of the bathroom he could see that they were a very deep, burgundy shade of red. But unlike Rita Skeeter's nails, hers were kept rather short and perfectly manicured and the dark shade really complimented her slight tan.

"You still have mud on your face." Draco chuckled and raised his hands out of the water to gently wipe away the dirty spots on her face. Her skin was so fine and soft and now finally clean again.

He still held her face in his hands, when she suddenly let out a shriek and jumped closer to him, her arms snaked around his neck in an attempt to steady herself. "Draco, there was something at my ankle.." she was now reaching with one hand down into the water, apparently checking if something was at her leg. "…it was like an ice-cold rush of water."

Draco put one arm around her waist; he probably knew what had been down there at her feet. "Jade, I bet it just was Moaning Myrtle. She likes to hang around in the bathrooms.. to spy on naked blokes, I guess." They heard a muffled giggle through the water. "Yes, definitely Myrtle. She just wanted to scare you, don't worry!" Wanting to make sure that not even a dead person would interfere tonight, he added pointedly "Apparently she's jealous of you, seeing that she never could get a boy to share a bath with her willingly." The giggle underneath them now turned into a wail and quickly became more distant. Draco smirked, satisfied with Myrtle's reaction.

Jade smiled lopsidedly at him and tousled his wet hair. "You cut your hair, didn't you? I like it this way; it's something different for a change. It makes you look cute." she added, a slight pink tinge to her cheeks now. Maybe the crazy imp in the hair-salon was a genius in disguise after all, Draco thought. His lack of reaction to this statement apparently made her feel uncomfortable and she got out of his arms and made her way towards the golden taps again, inspecting a few others now with her back turned towards him.

So Draco could do two things now: he could either splash around awkwardly in the water or he could heat things up. The latter option seemed so much more enjoyable.

So he approached her in the water and pulled her body into his. He could feel her curves pressed up against him and suddenly felt a desperate need creep up inside him. Quickly he turned her around and without much more fussing around, he heaved her up on his hips by her waist and, noticing how she instinctively wrapped her legs around him, pressed her up against the wall of the pool, crashing his lips onto hers. Merlin, they were even softer than he had expected. Initially she seemed a bit surprised by this sudden turn of events, but gave in after Draco had nibbled a little on her lower lip. He immediately took this chance and intensified their kiss and he could feel how one of her hands found its way to the back of his head, digging into his hair; while her other hand trailed along his back, surely leaving little marks from her fingernails. He moaned into her mouth and pressed her harder into the wall, this was definitely getting _steamy _right now. And finally it turned into the most sensuous kiss Draco could ever have imagined.

But somehow the consuming feeling inside him was not satisfied yet; quite to the contrary, it had even intensified. Even though he was a little afraid he would scare her away, he started to explore her body with his hands; but only to the extend he thought she would be comfortable with. And it felt so great. In that moment everything was complete bliss.

* * *

_A/N: Thank you again for all your reviews :) It really motivates me to write more.. and write faster ;)_

_Hope you liked the chapter.. Finally 'something' happened ;D_


	16. Chapter 16

On Sunday morning Jade slept in very late; as she finally woke up, she immediately smiled to herself and turned over again to snuggle deeply into her cushions and relive the last night through her memory. It had been a rather long night and she had sneaked up to her dormitory at about half past two in the morning. And Merlin.. She still couldn't really believe what had happened back there in the Prefect's Bathroom.

Draco finally had made his move and the night had been something very special. It was not only physical attraction, but they shared something more than that. There couldn't exist kisses, like those they had shared, without something much more meaningful behind them.

Now the image of Draco came back into her mind again, holding her, kissing her, mumbling things in her ear…He had been _very _passionate, much more than she had expected. And he had touched her like she was incredibly precious; as if he had never had held anything more special in his arms.

They had stayed in the tub until all the bubbles had died out, which had been quite some time seeing that they were magical ones. She remembered how Draco had wrapped a towel around her afterwards and then had pulled her close again..

Jade closed her eyes and saw him standing in front of her again with his tousled wet hair and his beautiful broad chest; he really had a very nice body. And besides his height and his athletic figure, the other feature she loved most about his body was his hands. They were very well-formed and rather masculine, but still smooth with slender fingers. She remembered how they had moved around her body and felt the urge to be touched by him again.

Last night had only been the second time she had kissed a guy, and Merlin, she had never expected it to be this addicting! She remembered how it had been almost impossible for them to leave each other in the end. They had stolen kisses inside the bathroom, outside the bathroom, on a banister somewhere in the castle (until Mrs Norris had found them and they had to run for it) and finally in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. The trip from the bathroom to her dormitory had almost taken as long as the bathing before. She let out a muffled squeal into her cushion. She was so ridiculously happy in this moment.

The only thing, which brought her high level of happiness a little down again was that they both had decided that they would keep their 'relationship' a little in the closet. Somehow they were a pretty unlikely coupling and Draco wasn't sure how his parents would react if they caught wind that he was dating one of Harry Potter's friends. Jade had to agree to this and a huge part of her was definitely not ready to tell her uncle that she was in an intimate relationship with a member of the Malfoy family. Somehow the whole concept of this still seemed totally ludicrous to her. She always tried very hard to just forget his last name and somehow she had managed it that he was only 'Draco' to her.

And just as she wondered whether it would be awkward when they met the next time, she shot a glance at the clock. Oh no! She had totally overslept!

She was going to meet up with Draco and Blaise this afternoon to study together. But she had totally forgotten that she was to meet up with Blaise in the library two hours prior to that to look for books about spells they needed to study for Charms and chat a little. She had exactly ten minutes to get down there; totally impossible even if she had been dressed already.

So Jade jumped out of bed, got ready in record time, grabbed her school bag and rushed through the castle. When she arrived in front of the library after a meandering through the castle once again, Blaise already sat on a little stone bench in front of the large doors. He had set up an incredibly bored expression and was currently inspecting his fingernails. As he saw her approaching, he raised on of his eyebrows and his face turned into an expression of disappointment.

"I'm so sorry, Blaise! I totally overslept! I hope you didn't have to wait too long for me! I was in such a rush that I took some wrong stairs and ended up in the totally opposite end of the castle. I'm such a chump sometimes."

"It's alright, Jade... So you missed breakfast; if you are hungry, we can go down to the kitchens first and get you something to eat. You can't study with an empty stomach anyway and I have the feeling you have something to tell me.." He turned and strode off in front of her. Jade quickly caught up with him.

"What.. what do you mean, Blaise?"

He turned around to look at her and pursed his lips. "Jade, it's not like my brain consists of Jelly Slugs. Draco turned up very late last night and now you wind up much too late for our meeting and have obviously not gotten much sleep last night either. You don't need to be much of a genius to see the connection there."

Jade felt how her cheeks flushed a little. Somehow she felt caught red-handed. It was not like she would not have told Blaise, she would have eventually.

"Yeah, Blaise. I .. well, yeah." She fell silent again. Somehow she felt stupid and didn't even know why. But what was she going to tell him now? That she had had the most intense snogging session of her life last night? With Draco Malfoy?

"Full of words today, aren't we?" Blaise smirked at her.

"Well, I might have lost them today. It was not like we talked all night, you know." And that wiped the smirk right off Blaise's face again. So he apparently was not happy for her. And it angered her. Did he think that she was making a mistake again? "What Blaise?" she shot out at him, fierce lined her voice.

"Jade.. I.." he suddenly halted in his step and turned to look at her. Was there pity in his eyes? "Oh, really just forget it.. I'm not going to say anything about this. Only one thing: you probably know yourself that a _Malfoy _will always stay a _Malfoy_, no matter how charming he suddenly does appear. Go have your fun.. But just be careful, will you?"

Jade only nodded at him, she had no intention of being lectured right now. So maybe there was a risk in the whole idea of her and Draco together. But where was the fun if there was no risk at all? And if she got screwed over in the end; well, then it would just be her own fault and she would need to deal with it.

"And if our 'studying' today will consist of you two snogging each other, then I really don't want to come up there with you! I really don't need to see that." Mock arrogance now lined his voice, he grinned devilishly at her.

Jade looked at him, sceptically "Blaise, that sounds as if we were the most unattractive pairing.."

Blaise chuckled now. "Well, it's not like you are ugly or anything, Jade. But come on... I do remember how you always looked away when Astoria came over to kiss me, too. You didn't like to see me doing it either!"

Well, he had a point there. Somehow it had always been uncomfortable when she saw Blaise kissing Astoria in front of her. She didn't even really know why. Maybe because she felt like she was spying on them.

"Well, no worries Blaise. Honestly I don't even have an idea how Draco will act towards me today. Maybe he will act as if nothing happened." Jade said gloomily. Finally they had reached the portrait of the fruit bowl and Blaise took a step forward to open it.

"Oh, I really think he will remember _something _happened back there. Mr Malfoy mumbled something in his sleep last night." Blaise was outright laughing in her face now, while tickling the pear.

Draco had been talking in his sleep? Well, that sounded interesting, Jade thought."What did he say? Tell me, Blaise!" He just shook his head and laughed even harder. "Blaise! You have to tell me! Please? Pretty please?"

"Naaa.. I'm not going to tell you. Something like that should definitely be kept with us boys."

Jade continued to pout for at least an hour, but there was no way that she could bring Blaise to tell anything.

* * *

After a quick trip to the library Jade and Blaise went up to their study room on sixth floor. Blaise knocked on the door behind the tapestry and it was quickly opened by Draco, who apparently had already been there for quite some time. Parchment, books and many Chocolate Frog wrappers were scattered all over the large tables and Jade could see from the books that Draco was studying Arithmancy. Blaise quickly walked over to the couch and made himself comfortable, taking out one of the library books, while Draco locked the door behind them.

Jade had already made her way up to the table and started packing out her things, when Draco quickly came up behind her, leaning down towards her with one hand on her waist, he whispered "He knows, doesn't he?" Jade turned around and nodded. He was so close to her again and she suddenly felt a knot in her stomach; she wanted to be in his arms again. How was it possible that you missed someone who stood directly in front of you?

Draco nodded now and shot a pointed glance over to the couch, he looked a little surprised. Maybe he had expected Blaise to react stronger to this news. He walked around the table and sat back to work again.

After Jade had done some research on the spells, they were supposed to be practicing for their practical Charms examination, in a very weighty tome called '_Achievements in Charming'_, she walked over to Blaise who had read in another book about the same topic and they started to practice Growth Charms and Colour Change Charms on a few mice, Blaise had smuggled out after his last Charms lesson.

The first mouse on which Blaise had tried his Growth Charm quickly turned to the size of a little dog and Jade squealed and jumped up on the couch, pointing her own wand towards it again to undo Blaise's charm.

The Colour Change Charms were a little more fun. While Blaise was occupied turning the mice into all the different shades of the rainbow, Jade secretly pointed her wand at him and turned his skin much lighter.

Blaise noticed that his hand, which held his wand was suddenly a light beige and turned towards her to reciprocate by turning her skin into an unnatural jet black.

Both of them suddenly looked so stupid that they openly started laughing at each other and fired off wild colour combinations, leaving Jade with electric blue hair and Blaise with pink fingernails and green ears.

Just as Blaise was about to fire off another spell at Jade, they heard a groan over from the table. Draco apparently couldn't concentrate with them acting and giggling like little children. He ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up at the back of his head and looked over to the couch where they were sitting with guilty looks on their faces and their wands loosely in their hands. He snorted at the sight of them and Jade quickly turned her appearance back to normal again.

"Somehow I really have made no progress whatsoever with those equations over the last two hours. Does one of you know what this could mean?" he walked up to them and shoved a parchment under their noses.

Arithmancy was one of the most complicated subjects, which were taught at Hogwarts. Jade knew that Blaise had a knack for numbers and math, but he only pulled a face and said "I'm sorry, Draco. I haven't looked into those, yet. But it looks as if you had to shift those terms around." Blaise pointed to groups of the scribbled numbers and variables and Draco only let out a groan.

"Yeah, I tried that but I just can't see how I move on from that. It's so frustrating."

Jade stood up, she had worked out a similar equation just a few days ago, and said "Let me help you with that."

She followed him back to the table and sat down next to him; then she took his quill (apparently a pretty expensive one) and crossed out a few of his lines and wrote a new, correct one underneath. Together they worked through the task given by Professor Vektor, but Jade had the impression that Draco's mind was elsewhere. Soon enough he took out the quill of her hand and pulled her over on his lap.

She pushed against his shoulders and whispered "Draco! We are supposed to study in here!"

He took her hands off his chest and pulled her towards him; as she turned her head to the side, he kissed her neck instead. Jade squirmed on his lap and turned back towards the parchment, taking Draco's quill back in her hand.

"Come on, we're almost there now! Let's just finish this."

Draco's hand now wandered up on the outside of her thigh, coming to a rest an inch below the hem of her skirt.

Jade shot him an intimidating look and he pulled his hand a little back again. But now even Jade couldn't really concentrate anymore. It was not like she was a prude, but somehow Draco was pushing her boundaries a little. She liked the way he touched her, but she really did not want to go all the way within just two days. She wanted him to work a little harder for it.

Furthermore she really did not think that they were dating long enough to become real intimate already. She was fifteen after all, there was no rush for anything like that. She wanted to wait for a moment, when everything just felt right. But from the way Draco had acted the day before, Jade was pretty sure that he would be willing to just walk into the next broom cupboard and assault her.

Quickly she pulled herself back together and concentrated on the parchment in front of her and it took her a few more minutes until she had finally solved the stupid equation.

"There!" She smiled contentedly at Draco, who was currently playing with her hair and looked up at her as if she had just stirred him up from some deep thoughts.

He looked incredibly cute now with his hair sticking up at the back and his bangs sweeping into his eyes. Somehow the new haircut really complimented his pointed face.

Now he looked back at the parchment, obviously impressed. "Wow, you did it! Such a clever girl!" he cooed and pinched into her cheek.

"And that surprises you?" she said cheekily, eyebrows risen.

"No, I like it." He said, watching her through his grey eyes. "It's kind of sexy."

Jade felt her cheeks flush slightly as Draco's fingers moved down again to draw small circles on her thighs.

"You know what, guys" both of them jumped as Blaise suddenly stood in front of them, his bag thrown over his shoulder. "I think I'm off now. I need to reach in an essay for McGonagall today. Better check that off my list now, before I forget it. And Jade, if I don't see you at dinner later, I'll come back to search for you." He added with a stern look towards Draco.

"All right, _pa_! See you at dinner." Jade mocked him. But apparently Blaise did not see that as an offence whatsoever and with one last chaste look at them, he strode out of the door.

"Finally!" Draco growled and he slid an arm around the hollows of Jade's knees and stood up with her in his arms. Jade threw her arms around his neck, feeling a little conscious of her own weight. But Draco smoothly set her down again on a corner of the table, which was not currently littered with their stuff. He moved around and pulled her close and Jade finally gave in now and let him kiss her tenderly. He tasted like white chocolate today.

* * *

The week went over rather quickly. With the DA meetings and Angelina insisting on training almost every day, Jade had not found any free time to meet up with Draco. Only once he had pulled her into a little side corridor to wish her 'Good Luck' for the Quidditch game against Hufflepuff on Sunday.

Said game was a complete disaster. Jade got into the game after one of their own(!) Beaters had knocked Alicia off her broom and she did her best, but with Ron being too intimidated by the Slytherin's constant jeering and not saving one goal, there was no chance in keeping up with the Hufflepuffs. Finally Ginny caught the Snitch and ended the game with Gryffindor only a few points behind.

On the following Monday _'The Quibbler'_ with Harry's interview arrived at the breakfast table, accompanied by many owls addressed to Harry. Readers had written letters to him and some believed him now, while others advised him a trip to St Mungo's. Jade quickly read the interview and was impressed, and even slightly touched, by Harry's bravery to talk about everything that had happened. She gave him a little one-armed hug after she had read it, muttering into his ear "You did the right thing, Harry. It will make Umbridge's blood boil!"

Harry just grinned and quickly enough the ugly toad stood in front of him, confiscating the magazine, taking points from Gryffindor, cancelling his Hogsmeade visits and giving him a good deal of detention. But Jade knew that it was worth that for Harry. And soon enough the magazine was banned from the castle completely, which only made every student more curious and determined to read the article.

After her double Potions lesson Jade walked through the gloomy corridors of the dungeons. Only one thing about the article oppressed her mood a little: Draco's father was mentioned in the list of Death Eaters that returned to You-Know-Who that night. And Jade had no idea how Draco would react to this. And then she saw him, standing in a little group with other boys (Jade noticed that Harry had mentioned all their family's names in the article), who were whispering with sullen expressions on their faces.

As Draco saw her walking along the corridor with some of her Ravenclaw classmates, he quickly approached her and beckoned her to stop walking. Jade halted and while Eddie Carmichael and Marcus Belby kept on making their way to their next class, Roger stayed behind with her, muttering "Jade, I don't feel comfortable leaving you in a dark corridor with a group of little wanna-be Death Eaters. I'll just wait for you over there. Call me if you need help or anything." So Roger had obviously read the article, too. And he did not know that Draco and Jade were.. friendly.

As Roger was out of ear-shot Draco muttered spitefully. "Well, relay my thankfulness to your best friend. Potter finally succeeded in bashing the Malfoy name." He looked angrily at her.

"Well, it's not really slander, if it's the truth, is it Draco?" she crossed her arms in front of her chest and stood her ground, while Draco towered over her.

Draco let out a breath through his teeth and hissed. "So you're on his side, are you? Great girlfriend I got here."

Suddenly Jade felt a little flabbergasted. The word '_girlfriend_' had instantly left her brain rather empty. "I'm your girlfriend?" she asked him, with wide eyes and a little smile on her face.

Draco let out a husky laugh and the venomousness vanished from his face. He took her hands and broke up her crossed stance. But sensing that others could see them, he let go of her rather quickly again.

"Not if you don't want to be..." he looked at her cockily; he knew himself that that was not the case.

Jade just beamed at him, sensing that an answer to this was rather unnecessary. She looked up into his stormy grey eyes and even though they couldn't really touch each other in that moment, she felt incredibly close to him.

"Well, in that case, we should not have our first fight about something that we both can't change. I know Harry and you have a long-standing enmity, but in this case you can't even do anything about it. If you went up to him, you could get expelled. After all '_The Quibbler_' was banned and you shouldn't even have read it. So you really need to act as if you didn't know about Harry's.. _accusations_. " Jade argued and saw how Draco's face fell again; he looked bitter now. Apparently he could see the point she had made.

"Maybe I have something to cheer you up again. Angelina has cancelled Quidditch practices this week. So maybe we'll find some time to meet up." She smiled coyly at him.

Draco nodded, still having other things on his mind. "Tuesday after dinner?", he asked.

"That sounds good." Jade answered and turned to walk up to her next lesson with Roger.

* * *

The entire month of March consisted of school work, DA meetings, Quidditch and many meet-ups with Draco and Blaise in their study room. Most of the times they would study until Blaise found a _(real or imaginary)_ excuse to leave the two of them alone. Jade thought it was a good idea to have Blaise around, as he would really make them study. Without him the two of them would probably only gain 'P's in their exams. Because as soon as Blaise was out of the room, Draco would scoop Jade out of her chair and occupy himself with anything but studying.

Jade somehow felt that kissing had replaced talking in their relationship. And in a way she was even a bit relieved, as their fifth meeting was completely kiss-free due to Draco having gotten a bludger full in his face at Quidditch practice. His jaw was still a little swollen and his teeth needed some time to settle in again, after Madam Pomfrey had fixed his face.

So after Blaise had gone to look something up in the library, Draco took Jade by her hand and led her over to the couch. He pulled her down to lie beside him and Jade snuggled up into his arms. She turned towards him and gently traced his jaw-line with her fingers.

"Draco, I need to ask you something." She finally said and the boy looked at her, attentiveness in his eyes.

His eyebrows rose a little as he said "Well, go on then.."

"I really try to just not think about it, but sometimes I can't help but wonder about what might happen in the future. We both know that sooner or later You-Know-Who will come out into the open again. And let's have no false pretences here: there will be a fight, openly or in the underground... And I'm asking myself what will happen if we face each other someday on the battlefield?" Anxiety was pretty clear in her voice. She had already had nightmares about scenes like this. She knew Draco would probably never leave his family and switch sides. But they needed to talk about this nonetheless, didn't they?

She felt how Draco pulled her a little closer now. His voice sounded steady when he said "Jade. I know that there might be times ahead, when it won't be as easy as it is for us right now. But regardless what might happen, I would never ever raise my wand against you. So you might as well just put the _Imperio _on me, so I have a good excuse for not fighting against you."

He kissed the top of her head swiftly and Jade felt a little relieved. She knew that they were only together for about a month and it was much too soon to talk about _love _or anything like that. But she knew she really cared about him and he made her very happy. She just had this inexplicable feeling that what they shared was not just some teenage fling.

Apparently Draco felt the same, as he now took her hand again and entwined their fingers. His voice was not much more than a whisper now.

"This might sound a little lame, but I really mean it when I say that you are something special to me. I never thought I would be a guy who cared so much about a girl, but here we are. And I don't think that this is a joke.. You and Me.." he hesitated a little "I would really like to kiss you right now, but I think it might make my teeth fall out again."

Jade giggled and moved to kiss the side of his neck, inhaling his scent, which never failed to have this slightly intoxicating effect on her. Draco had closed his eyes now, relishing her touch. And suddenly the more roguish side of Jade wanted to tease him. She knew he couldn't kiss her right now, even though he wanted to. And somehow she wanted to make him really ache for her. So she trailed little kisses down his neck, while undoing the tie of his school uniform a little and unbuttoning the first few inches of his shirt. Draco let out a little moan as she moved her mouth to his collar bone.

Usually Draco always was the more dominant one of them, but right now Jade really enjoyed taking the lead for a while. Somehow she even felt a little more comfortable now, knowing that she was determining what they did. She slid her hand into his unbuttoned shirt and slightly grazed his chest with her fingernails; she could feel him shiver and almost wanted to giggle.

It was funny to see what an impact her movements could have on him and suddenly she wanted to see him react more. So she turned her body and rested one of her legs on his, so their bodies were even closer now. She moved up again to kiss his bruised jaw and slowly let her hand travel down his body.

Finally Draco's eyes snapped open again and his hand caught hers, pulling it up to his chest again; he gazed at her with a slightly clouded look and said "You're a bad one, you know that.. Sure you're not Slytherin?"

Jade's mouth twisted into a roguish smile and she shrugged. Draco smirked now "Oh, I see. But my little Gryffindor princess.. You know you'll get your payback for this, don't you?.. Just wait and see.."

Still grinning Jade cuddled up into the crook of Draco's neck and he put his arms around her, holding her close to him.

So yes, there might come a time when everything would change. And they might even fall apart one day. But that did not mean, they couldn't enjoy what they had in this moment. And both of them savoured the feeling of holding each other, trying to burn it into their memory. So they never would forget.


	17. Chapter 17

As the Easter break came closer, the D.A. moved on to Patronus Charms. Jade never had produced a corporeal Patronus and struggled a little with the spell. On the last meeting before the holidays she tried again and Harry, who stood next to her, gave her some advice.

"Jade, I think your only problem is that you can't find a memory or idea that makes you happy enough." Then he came a little closer and mumbled "I know sometimes it is a little embarrassing to find out what would really make you happy. But nobody will know what you're thinking about. Just concentrate on the happiest scenario you can make up. It has to be really powerful and fill up every inch of you with happiness. Come on, try again!"

Alright, Harry had a point there. Until now she had always tried to use different memories, but none of them had been strong enough. So she tried to shake off any feelings of embarrassment, she would feel about her own heart's desires, and closed her eyes, concentrating: A scene in the future, where He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was gone and all her friends had survived and were happy. She visualized a celebration in a garden on a summer night. With Harry, Ron and Hermione, all happy. Blaise would also be there. And Draco would of course was be with her. They would be together... for real. And as the face of a cute little boy with blond hair popped up in her mind, who resembled Draco so much, only that she looked into her own eyes when she saw him, she shouted "Expecto Patronum!"

And this time she could feel the tip of her wand vibrate, something incredibly big came out of it. And with awe she saw a huge dragon form from the silver-white mist. "Blimey, Jade!" bellowed Harry. All of the other students had stopped shouting their own incantations and were looking at the 15 feet long dragon, which viciously glared back at them. Jade had immediately recognized the breed. It was an Peruvian Vipertooth, the smallest dragon known to the Wizarding World and similar to her, it had its roots in South America. And now the dragon roared and puffed up silvery-white fire from its nose. And then Jade lost her focus and it dissolved into mist again. Now congratulations were shouted through the room at her, after all she was one of the last ones to achieve a corporeal Patronus.

Jade smiled, extremely satisfied with herself, and Harry clapped her on the back. "Great work, Jade! I never saw a Patronus, which was this big! Really impressive!"

She laughed and answered "Yeah.. almost as impressive as to intimidate its own caster. With this thing I really have to remember that it is here to _protect_ me and not to _barbecue_ me."

Harry just snorted and then looked around. Jade followed his glance and saw a little house-elf appear in the middle of the students. It looked terrified. After the house-elf had exchanged only a few words with Harry, it became obvious that he bore grave news: Umbridge had found out about the D.A..The raven-haired boy looked around at the shocked faces and shouted through the room "What are you waiting for? Run!"

And with those words hell broke loose; Jade got separated from Harry in the turmoil, who obviously wanted to stay behind to make sure everybody got out of there. So she ran after the others out of the room and through many corridors. At first she tried to stay behind Hermione and Ron, but thinking it would be even less obvious if she was alone on her way through the castle, she turned into a different corridor. She had made it to sixth floor when she spotted a little stone bench and had the sudden idea that she would just sit down there as if nothing had happened. Making sure nobody saw her, she slid down onto the bench and quickly got out a random book from her bag and stuffed her quill behind her ear. The only thing that could betray her now was her flushed face and the heavy panting.

She was just concentrating on calming herself down, when she heard somebody run through the corridor. The person's steps echoed through the hallway even before they came in sight. She turned, as inconspicuously as possible and saw it was Draco. What in the name of Merlin's pants was HE doing here? Apprehension took hold of her mind.

Draco recognized her now and his running paced down to slow long strides. Finally he stood directly in front of her, still slightly panting, and snarled "So you're one of them?"

Jade looked at him and asked, innocently "Excuse me? One of whom?"

"Why did you never tell me? I could have warned you! Umbridge asked me and some other Slytherins earlier if we wanted to go on some Potter hunt... I caught him, you know.." He smirked smugly.

Jade stood up straight now, letting the book slide down onto the bench. "What did you do?"

Still smirking, Draco drawled "Oh, it was just a simple Trip Jinx. Umbridge took him to Dumbledore. It will be interesting to see what reason the old fool will come up this time to keep Saint Potter from getting expelled."

Jade was furious. Extremely furious. Who was this boy which stood in front of her? Why was he suddenly such a git?

He went on now, the smirk no longer in his face. "Oh, don't look at me like that, Jade. If Potter can tell the whole _world _that my father is a Death Eater, then I can very well turn him in for breaking the school rules. It's not like he didn't deserve it."

Jade had the sudden urge to strike at him. How could he be so stupid? Couldn't he see what trouble he had brought upon them all? Heads would be rolling now, that was for sure. She looked at him; a wild mixture of disappointment, hurt and fury on her face. And finally she could see how Draco's face wavered.

"Jade, don't be mad at me. I know you weren't mad at Potter when he gave the interview. You even hugged him on the morning the magazine arrived, I saw that! You can't be mad at me now! That's not even fair!"

Jade laughed a bitter laugh. "So you want to be rewarded now? For your incredibly brave behaviour? For turning Harry in? Draco, don't you see? This isn't about some little teenage rivalry! This is about the future of all of us! The ministry is a bunch of cowards and the only hope we have lies in Dumbledore and Harry. Yet you still walk around the school thinking it's all about you getting your reputation back in place!"

Suddenly another pair of heels made their way noisily up the hallway, it was Pansy. And with utter horror, Jade realized that she was carrying the list of names in her hand, on which every D.A. member had signed after their first meeting.

She screeched "Draco, have you found another one? I'll go back to Umbridge right now to give her this! Wait, is that the Heywood girl? She is on this list of names right here! You need to take her with you!"

Draco snarled back at her. "No, Pansy! I know for a fact that she couldn't have been in this meeting today. I saw her just about half an hour ago. And this list you have there is no proof for anything. Now go on to Umbridge! Let her decide what to do with it." Pansy turned on her heel with a disappointed look on her face. And Draco looked back at Jade now, his head inclined.

Granted, he had just lied for her, but which '_boyfriend'_ wouldn't do that? Jade felt that she had lost a little respect for this boy. Why was he acting like this? Only because of his hurt ego?

And then he took her hand; and Jade let him, wanting to know what he had to say. If he could mend the shattered image, she currently had from him.

"Jade.. I know, you're angry right now. But sometimes I really feel that your expectations concerning me are so ridiculously high. You knew from the start that I hated Potter. I never made any false pretence about that. And now suddenly this almost ancient fact is something you reproach me with. So yeah, you accuse me of doing things, you always knew I was doing. I'm sorry, but in all honesty: What do you expect from me? I will not suddenly turn into a little Puffskein just because I like a girl. And excuse me for asking this, but how naive are you exactly to think you would change my entire personality within a few weeks?

"And you might say that I'm an idiot for acting the way I like, and maybe I am. But I don't owe you anything. I never said I was going to be Mr. Friendly and when Potter thinks he can offend me, well then I'll react to it. I have no patience for this. And I don't mean to be mean, but really Jade, all I can be is just me. And I'm tired of arguing with you.

"So you either accept this or we go our separate ways. Although in the last case I really don't understand why you wanted to get together in the first place." he had let go of her hand by now and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

And just like that Jade felt like the fool again. He was right and she was wrong. Of course the way he acted was incredibly stupid in her opinion; but who was she to reprimand him? So now she faced the decision: stay with him and keep her mouth shut or walk away and stand by her own principles.

This decision really sucked right now.

Somehow this impending loss of Draco hurt her. Suddenly she wanted nothing more but to crawl into some hole and cry. She wanted to walk away right now; but then she just wanted to fall into his arms again. So she took several deep breaths to steady herself. She didn't want to break down in front of him right now. But what was she going to do?

If she made up with Draco right now, then she really had to accept him the way he was, with all his flaws and his occasional spitefulness. She had to give him a real chance.

Or she would walk away right now and leave everything behind her. But how could she, when just a few moments ago he had been the 'thought' that had finally made her Patronus Charm powerful enough? Now she came to think of it.. It was a _dragon_, wasn't it? How subtle ..

So Jade looked up at Draco again, who had been waiting patiently for her answer, and she simply nodded. She took a step towards him and laid her hands on top of his crossed arms. She searched his eyes for any kind of hint on what he was thinking right now.

Then she whispered "I'm sorry, Draco. Sometimes it's just difficult for me. I don't want to lose you, but it's so hard when we stand on the opposite sides of the battle. It hurts. I want to be on your side. But there is no way for that to happen. And I know that I'll just have to accept this.. and learn to deal with it."

And now he opened his arms again and pulled her close to him. "We'll make it work somehow..But promise me one thing, Jade. Stop judging me." he whispered and as Jade nodded her head, he kissed her on the lips affectionately.

And soon enough Jade discovered that the best part of getting into a fight with your boyfriend was making up again.

* * *

About an hour later Jade climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor Common Room. After their fight Draco had dragged her into some empty classroom and weirdly enough Jade had felt that their argument had brought them even closer. But with one look into the many sullen faces of her fellow classmates in the Common Room her mood dropped instantly. What had happened?

Over in one corner she saw the familiar bushy brown mane of Hermione and quickly made her way over to her. Hermione let out a sigh of relief as soon as she caught sight of her "Thank Merlin! There you are, Jade! We already were afraid you had gotten caught! What happened to you?"

Hermione and Harry sat at a table next to one of the windows. Ron was sitting on the opposite end of the table; all of them with grim expressions on their faces.

Jade sat down next to Ron and said "Nothing serious. Just had a little run in with Draco.. and Pansy Parkinson.. She got the list..And Harry, what happened to you? He told me he caught you! Could you escape? I feared you already got expelled!"

Harry just snorted and his green eyes glistened darkly "Dumbledore took the blame. He told Umbridge that '_Dumbledore's Army'_ had been his idea from the start and that today should have been our first meeting."

Jade's mouth fell open and with wide eyes she asked "You're serious? How did Umbridge react?"

"It wasn't only Umbridge who reacted to this. Fudge was here today. And they wanted to arrest Dumbledore and lock him away in Azkaban for plotting against the Ministry." Jade's eyes grew even wider, but Harry suddenly grinned grimly and continued "You don't really think Dumbledore would let himself get arrested by this incapable toad and her cowardly boss, do you? He shot off a spell at them, I really have no idea what that was. And then he left the castle. I guess Umbridge is now our new headmistress."

Jade didn't even know what to say. Harry had gotten out of this unscathed, but they had lost Dumbledore. And it all was their own fault. If they hadn't founded the D.A... But how did Umbridge find out anyway?

Hermione seemed to have read Jade's mind and muttered "We had a sneak in our rows, Jade. Marietta Edgecombe told Umbridge about the D.A.. But I guess she will regret it after all. I put a nice little hex on the parchment, we all signed on."

So Marietta Edgecombe had betrayed them. Jade never had really liked that girl. Her thoughts were interrupted by Ron, who cleared his throat loudly. She turned to look at him, realizing that he was watching her with a fierce look on his face. She had an idea that she knew what was coming now.

"So.. you know that Dumbledore would still be here, if Malfoy hadn't caught Harry, do you? Everyone knows you're still meeting up with him, Jade. I don't understand how you can be friends with someone who acts like this? Have you never heard of loyalty? I thought you were on our side! But still you're fraternizing with the enemy!"

Hermione and Harry both turned to look out of the window the instant the word 'Malfoy' had come out of Ron's mouth. Hermione had accepted Jade's friendship with Draco long ago and Harry never really seemed too interested in the subject altogether. He really had other things on his mind with the nightly dreams of wandering along a corridor and Occlumency lessons with Snape...

But Jade had always noticed that the Weasley's had a real problem with her being friends with Draco. Fred and George almost avoided her as if she was a leper and it hurt her a little. Ginny never had been really fond of Jade and outside the Quidditch stadium she was mostly ignored by her. And now Ron turned against her as well?

His ears had turned red by now and his eyes were slightly narrowed. Jade really had to say something now that would calm him down. She began, her voice rather feeble.

"Ron, I don't really think that you can apply the ideal of loyalty here. I'm standing between two sides and asking me to be '_loyal'_ in the amount you apparently expect it from me, would be like pushing me to lose at least one friend. And I'm sorry Ron, but I don't think you have the right to do this! I always said that my friendship with Draco would never put anyone in danger and I still stand by that. After all I'm not the one who betrayed you! Draco would have caught Harry anyway. And if it wasn't for him Parkinson might have gotten me, too. Although that is rather unlikely, but still Draco protected me today."

Somehow Ron's expression hadn't changed a little bit. Had he even listened to her? Alright so if he wasn't going to be persuaded by sheer argumentation, Jade had to change her tune. She knew Ron didn't like her in _that_ way, but after all she was a girl and he was a pubescent teenage boy. This shouldn't be too hard; Slytherins did this all the time, didn't they? Jade shot a fleeting look over at Hermione only to see that she was now in deep concentration over her last notes from History of Magic class.

Jade swept her hair out of her eyes and scooted a little closer towards the tall ginger boy on the bench. She moved to lay her hand on top of his and immediately Ron's face did a 180°; he looked at her with a rather blank expression in his wide-opened eyes. Jade bit on her lip a little as she turned to look up at him, setting up the most doe-like look she could muster.

Her voice was very soft when she said "Ron, you know how much you all mean to me. And I really would like to please you. But in this case, it would only hurt me more and make me really sad. You can't really want that, can you?"

Ron shook his head, slightly transfixed and Jade beamed at him in her most beautiful way. And after giving his hand a little squeeze she moved away from him again. She looked over at Harry, who grinned at her with one eyebrow raised. He clearly knew what she had been doing and Jade almost felt a little ashamed of being this calculating. But she only saved them a lot of arguing, didn't she?

Now Ron let out a little cough, apparently coming back to his senses, and started talking to Harry about the last game of the Chudley Cannons enthusiastically; he seemed to be very eager to change the topic of conversation suddenly.

Later that evening, when Ron and Hermione had already gone up to the dormitory and Harry and Jade were one of the only ones still in the Common Room, Harry came over to sit next to Jade on the couch.

"I'm sorry that I didn't say anything to that whole Malfoy thing earlier. I hope you know that I'm not against your friendship. But somehow I couldn't take sides in the fight between Ron and you earlier, I hope you understand." His green eyes looked kindly into hers.

And Jade put her book down and answered "Of course, I do! Really Harry, this isn't even a fight that concerns you. When it comes to Draco, I have to fight my own battles. And I already am _so_ thankful that you and Hermione tolerate the whole thing. And it's not as if I didn't argue with Draco earlier.."

Harry just nodded to this and stared into the fire in the fireplace, then he turned around to her again, grinning. "But you did deal with Ron very.. _creatively_. You're nor part-Veela or something are you?"

Jade let out a laugh at this. "Please, Harry. With Ron every halfway decent girl can be part-Veela if she works it right." They both laughed at this and sat on the couch a little longer, talking about what might happen now that the school was in the clutches of Dolores Umbridge.

* * *

A/N:

Please, leave me your reviews I'm always thrilled to read them.


	18. Chapter 18

The next day Umbridge was officially made Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with Educational Decree Number Twenty-Eight. Fred and George celebrated this happy day by letting loose a wild mixture of their newly invented _Weasley's Wildfire Whizbangs._ And the castle was full of roaring and sparkling dragons, huge Catherine wheels and fizzing rockets, which reduced Umbridge to despair within her first day.

Only a few days later the Easter holidays arrived and most of the fifth years stayed at school to start the revision for their O.W.L. examinations. Draco had stayed at school as well and Jade hoped they would spend some time together during the free days.

They met up in their study room with Blaise of course, but now that there were only mere weeks until the exams, Blaise did not leave them to themselves anymore. The three of them really had to study intensely as there were many different subjects and five years worth of material to revise. And so they sat in the room on sixth floor again on Sunday evening. Blaise had made a quick trip down to the kitchen to get some drinks and a few snacks, but after studying for three hours all of them were pretty exhausted by now. The boys still sat at the table and Jade had moved one of the armchairs over to the windows and had her nose buried in '_A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration' _by Emeric Switch.

Finally Draco let out an exasperated sigh and shoved his parchment away from him. Blaise looked up from his own book and watched the blond boy expectantly through his slanted dark eyes. "Not making any progress, Draco? You're still working on that essay of Flitwick's?"

Draco growled "I still need to write three inches, but honestly I don't even know what to add to it anymore."

Jade looked up from the book now and saw how Blaise extended his arms, beckoning Draco to reach him his essay to have a look over it.

She smiled as she saw this. She knew Blaise didn't really like Draco.. Or maybe he just didn't like the fact that Draco liked her. But seeing those two boys act friendly towards each other really warmed her heart a little.

Now Draco stood up from the table and walked over towards her armchair and, ignoring her complaints, he pulled her out of it, only to sit down himself and clap on his thighs, looking up at her slyly. This guy always took what he wanted, didn't he?

"Little spoiled brat.." Jade muttered, but sat down on his lap smiling. Immediately he slang one arm around her waist, while he rested his other elbow on the armrest. He looked a little dishevelled by now as the habit of tousling his hair when he concentrated really destroyed its usual sleek appearance. She noticed that he wore one of those ridiculously soft knitted cardigans again, which probably had cost a fortune. Only since a few days a shining 'I' was pinned next to the prefects badge. Draco had been appointed a member of the Inquisitorial Squad by Umbridge, which basically meant that he could dock points from every student within the school in order to support her regime.

"Do you have anything planned on Tuesday, Jade?" he asked her now, as Jade moved one hand to smooth his hair back down. His hair was so exorbitantly soft that she just couldn't help but think that her own hair was pure straw against it. Although she had always prided herself in having long silky and healthy hair, she just couldn't keep up to _his_ standards.

She shook her head now and Draco grinned "Then we'll meet up before lunch. Back there in the Herbology gardens." He didn't even await her answer but gave her a quick kiss on her lips and then whispered "I'll better get back to the table now, before Blaise gets annoyed by us. I don't want to tempt my fortune now. _His_ essay is already fifteen inches long, after all."

But hidden behind the backrest of the armchair from Blaise's disapproving looks, Jade snaked her arms around Draco's neck and pulled him close again.

* * *

On Tuesday Jade made her way out of the castle and over to the gardens. It was an incredibly pretty day in the beginning of April. The sky was very bright and the smell of spring was in the air again. She could hear the birds sing excitedly and a few students had come out to lie next to the lake under the beech trees and enjoy the first real sunny day of the year.

She walked into the garden, into which she had fled during their snowball fight, and made her way through it. This time it took longer to reach the little fountain and she saw with delight that, instead of being frozen, sparkling water was springing out of it.

She saw a little stone bench and as Draco was nowhere in sight, she sat down on it and waited.

She didn't have to wait too long before she saw the familiar tall figure of him approaching. Draco always had this very special spring in his step. It was very unmistakable and she thought his upright and proud strut was kind of attractive. If there was one thing about boys that always drew her magically towards them it was independence and self-confidence. And to be honest, Draco was almost a little too full of himself.

Finally he stood in front of her and Jade had to smile as his whole cocky attitude became visible just in the first glance he shot her. Yes, definitely attractive.

Her gaze wandered down his body and rested on a little basket he carried in his hand; a folded blanket lay on top of it. Jade stood up from the stone bench and made her way over to him.

"Hello there" he bent down to kiss her and added "You haven't been waiting long have you?"

"Not really, it took me longer to get here than I thought."

"That's good. I got hold up by my team mates. Montague turned up a few days ago, crammed into a toilet. He's currently in no position to be the team Captain." They made their way into a more secluded part of the garden and Draco placed the blanket upon the grass. As Jade set down on it she noticed that it had been placed a Cushioning Charm upon it as it was even softer than the grass below it. Draco got down to sit next to her and packed out a few of the things, he had scrounged from the elves in the kitchen. He went on.

"The Weasel twins really went a little far this time. They shoved him into one of those Vanishing Cabinets and he stayed in there for several days. He is not able to articulate himself right now, but I think as soon as he'll be able to talk again I will ask him about what happened in that Cabinet." Suddenly he grinned deviously and added "I never knew Potter was taking remedial potions. When I went down to fetch Snape after Montague turned up again, Potter was down in his office with him. For _remedial potions_... The boy really must be as thick as a troll." Draco snickered.

At first Jade didn't even know what he was talking about; Harry taking remedial potions? But a moment later it clicked: his Occlumency lessons. Obviously Snape wouldn't tell Draco about those.

Draco still grinned evilly and Jade just rolled her eyes; he saw and pulled her down to lie upon the blanket next to him.

"I hope you haven't eaten much already, Jade. That basket has a Extension Charm on it. I practically packed the whole kitchen."

Jade laughed "What's in there?"

"Oh.. just some fruit and drinks.. and ice-cream. You know me, I like sweet things." He smiled at her and even though Jade knew that the two of them were almost unbearable cheesy in that moment, she smiled back and started kissing him.

Draco replied eagerly and pulled Jade to linger on top of him. He held the back of her head with one hand, while the other moved down to her hip. And Jade melted into his touch this time; with each time she grew more comfortable with him touching her. And he was just such a great kisser. Their kisses were the perfect mixture of tenderness and passion. Wild, fast-paced ones interchanged with slow, sensuous ones and very quickly they both were short of breath. Draco's hands had moved up a little under the skirt of her dress, lingering on her thigh.

And for the first time Jade felt a very weird sensation creep up inside her, suddenly she wanted Draco so badly. And she started trailing kisses down his neck while undoing his shirt at the same time. Draco let out a stifled moan and tenderly he brushed back her hair, which had fallen into her face.

And just as Jade grazed her fingernails along his chest, she moved her leg a little over his body and felt something.. something that was NOT Draco's wand. Oh Merlin.. And just like that she choked again.

Her kisses slowed down and then she broke apart from him to lie on his bare chest. She really liked him, but everything that really went further than kissing scared her a little. To be honest not just 'a little'; it really scared her like hell. And so she just lay in the crook of his neck and tried to get her breathing down to a normal level again.

She gazed up at the sky and noticed that a few clouds had formed up there. She couldn't help but recognize the profile of Professor Snape in one of the clouds. It really looked like his large, crooked nose. Even his greasy hair was distinguishable. She reached up with her hand to point out the cloud to Draco.

"I really think it much more resembles a dragon.. That's not a nose, that's its wing. You see.." He traced the outline of his dragon in mid-air.

A dragon? Jade smiled and asked "Draco.. did you ever conjure up a Patronus?"

He let his arm fall again and draped it across her waist."No... I never tried. Did you?"

"I always found it really difficult. But Harry taught us in the D.A.. He's been able to conjure up a corporeal Patronus since the age of thirteen! He even produced the Charm in the presence of dementors. That really is some advanced magic.."

Draco chuckled and Jade could hear the vibration deeply within his chest. "Yeah, I remember Potter being a little... _sensitive_ .. when it came to dementors. The first time he saw them, he fainted. Imagine that!" he snickered.

But Jade did not find this particularly amusing. She sat up and snarled "Well, maybe you would be _sensitive _too, if you had witnessed the murder of you own parents!"

The combination of the words '_murder'_ and '_parents'_ was something both of them usually avoided. Jade let out a hissing breath and turned away from Draco; suddenly the fury, she had felt before she had met him, built up inside her again.

She stared at a little statue a few feet away from them on which two little birds were hopping around. She heard how Draco sat up too and moved to button up his shirt again. He took his time, but when he was done Jade had the feeling that his eyes bore into her back.

And finally he asked her very timidly "Are you really sure it was him?"

"What do you mean?" Jade still did not turn towards him, but concentrated on the two birds.

"My father.. Are you really sure it was him?" His voice sounded a little strained now.

"I.." she hesitated "I was a little baby when it happened, so of course I don't remember a thing. My aunt came to save me from the house..She only saw two Death Eaters, who still kept fighting my parents. She recognized one of them.. She saw him calling his master.." Jade shook her head now; the birds had left their place on the shoulder of the statue and she turned back to look at Draco. "So no, I don't know exactly who _did _it. I just know who is _responsible _for it."

And feeling the cold fury rear up inside her again, she added "Maybe you'll ask your daddy about it the next time you're home."

"Jade!" his voice was full of reproach. "Don't act like that"

"Act like what?" she shot back at him with a glare.

"You're being a little.." but apparently Draco thought better of it and left the sentence unfinished, instead he open up his arms now and said "Come here!"

And immediately Jade scooted closer to him and cuddled up in his arms again. She buried her head in his chest and he laid his head upon hers and whispered "Sometimes I feel like you don't even realize how special you are for me."

Jade sniffed a little, her anger had subsided as quickly as it had come. She knew that it was incredibly unfair to let it out on Draco. And even though a part of her wanted to spit out death threats against his father, she knew that it would only ruin what they had.

Draco moved to kiss her now and Jade let him. She could feel how he poured his heart into it and Jade felt that this moment had suddenly turned into something incredibly precious.

After they had broken apart again, Draco said "Now, let's have some ice-cream." And he grinned at her as if Christmas had come early and pulled the basket towards him , muttering "The Freezing Charm probably wore off already" Jade just gave him one last quick kiss, just because he was so cute sometimes.

* * *

The holidays went over rather quickly and the time was filled with studying, Quidditch and Career Advice for the fifth years and Jade. She had noticed that Harry had been a little preoccupied for the entire holidays and as the free days drew to a close, he had decided that he wanted to talk to Sirius. His plan was to break into Umbridge's office on the first day of school and use her fireplace, while Fred and George had guaranteed him to divert her in the meantime.

Their diversion turned into a real spectacle once more and it ended with Fred and George kicking off on their brooms in the Entrance Hall in front of Professor Umbridge and leaving the school as two rebellious heroes.

After they had left, the castle turned into a real battlefield, as many students tried to take their empty place as major troublemakers; and the corridors were filled with dungbombs and little explosions. With a malicious joy Jade witnessed how Professor Umbridge tried to remove a swamp, which Fred and George had left on fifth floor, and failed lousily. Jade was sure that Professor McGonagall could have removed it in a second, but just like with the fireworks a few weeks ago, apparently the other teachers weren't bothered by it.

Then the day of their final Quidditch match arrived: Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Jade knew that this match would decide who won the Cup and she was terribly afraid that Ron would fail again over at the goal hoops.

It was a tough match, but miraculously Ron saved almost every goal. Finally he played as well as his team always had known he could and together they won the Quidditch Cup once again. Ron was a real hero that night in the Gryffindor Common Room and it turned into a great party.

Soon after the match the O.W.L. examinations began and Jade turned into a nervous wreck. She had never written any serious test yet and on the morning her first written exam (it was Arithmancy) she couldn't even stomach more than a bite of her toast.

But all in all the two weeks of examinations went over rather well; with the exception of the evening of their practical Astronomy exam, where the shocked students on the Astronomy tower witnessed the sacking of Hagrid. Umbrigde had decided to attack Hagrid with the help of some aurors from the Ministry and Jade shrieked in horror as Professor McGonagall, who had come to Hagrid's aid, received several stunning spells right to her chest and collapsed immediately. Now this ugly toad really had gone too far, but with Professor McGonagall in St Mungo's, there was no one else in the school that could put her back in her place.

After their last examination in History of Magic, Jade met up with Hermione and Ron to compare their results. Harry had left the exam a little early, but suddenly he came running towards them with a frantic expression on his face. Panting, he stood before them and said in a panicky voice "Come with me! I got to tell you something!" and quickly the three of them followed him up the marble staircase and into an empty classroom on first floor.

Harry closed the door and turned towards them. Jade was getting scared now; he looked terrified.

Then he said "Voldemort got Sirius! I saw it just now, when I fell asleep in the exam!" Then he quickly explained to them about another dream he had; about Sirius being held captive in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic and how Voldemort was torturing him, probably killing him eventually.

Hermione tried to knock some sense into Harry again, pointing out the improbability of this whole situation. But he didn't have a word of it, he was so terrified of Sirius being in the clutches of Voldemort, that he spun off wild fantasies of why Sirius would be targeted by Voldemort.

Hermione tried again by saying that it could be a trap, as Voldemort knows that Harry would come and try to save Sirius, but Harry only got incredibly furious and started shouting at her. Jade just took a step back and let the three of them fight on their own, until the door opened and Ginny and Luna stepped into the classroom.

And finally they agreed that Harry would use the fireplace in Umbridge's office again to find out if Sirius was really out of Grimmauld Place, while the others tried to lure the headmistress away from it.

Quickly Ron and Jade walked off to find Umbridge to tell her that Peeves was creating turmoil in the Transfiguration corridor again. But the plan didn't work, Umbridge didn't believe them; she just grinned evilly and turned into the direction of her office, shouting to a few members of the Inquisitorial Squad nearby to take hold of Jade and Ron and bring them to her office.

A very large seven year girl approached Jade, who knew that Ron and her were totally outnumbered and did not have a chance to fight them. So she let the girl take hold of her upper arm in some kind of death grip and pull her along the corridor. Ron tried to struggle against his captivators, but he only received a nasty punch in his mouth and they were dragged on to Professor Umbridge's office. Jade noticed how the grip on her arm slackened steadily; apparently the Slytherin girl was under the impression that Jade would come quietly. And as they turned a corner and passed one of those hidden passages behind a tapestry, Jade took the opportunity and looped her way out of her grip. Quickly she threw the tapestry aside and opened the door behind it and passed it. With all her force she slammed it close behind her and pointed her wand at it, crying "Colloportus!"

And then she ran up the hidden corridor. She was now making a huge detour, but she needed to reach Umbridge's office quickly. Maybe she could warn the others in time.

She ran as fast as she could and passed the tapestry at the other end of the corridor. She was now on sixth floor, but Umbridge's office was on second floor. She practically jumped down five steps at once and ran down another hallway, but as she reached its end the hallway split up into two others.

Jade cursed under her breath. She had lived in the castle for a good seven months and still she couldn't remember which path was the right one. Not really sure what to do, she just turned left and started sprinting again. But she got lost.

She almost wanted to cry now. Her friends were down there in Umbridge's office and might get caught any minute and she couldn't help them because she was too stupid to remember the right way. In her desperation she only started sprinting faster and searched for any stairs that would lead her down and finally she knew where she was again.

She turned a corner and Umbridge's office came in sight. The door opened and Jade jumped back quickly; it was Snape. He closed the door behind him again and hurried down the corridor in the opposite direction very fast. What had he been doing here?

Slowly Jade made her way up to the office, contemplating what to do know. Umbridge was apparently already in there. And Harry and Hermione, who had accompanied him, were trapped. The Inquisitorial Squad presumably had already brought Ron in there, if he hadn't succeeded in escaping from them. She wondered where Ginny and Luna might be; the two of them had wanted to stand guard outside the office, but were nowhere in sight.

Then the door opened again and Umbridge walked out, shoving Harry and Hermione down the hallway in front of her. Quickly Jade jumped down behind a suit of armour and peered around it. She had no idea where Umbridge was taking them. But she had to decide now: she could either follow them or try to rescue the others from within the office and then follow Harry and Hermione together. It was possible that the others knew where Umbridge was taking them.

So Jade made her way up to the closed door of the High Inquisitor's office and took out her wand. She waved it fiercely through the air and the door was blasted open; her friends inside reacted immediately and started to bombard the members of the Inquisitorial Squad with a variety of defensive spells, they had learned in the D.A..

Ginny aimed a rather mean bat-bogey hex at Draco, but Jade quickly muttered the counter spell and earned one of Ginny's dirtiest looks. But nevertheless the Inquisitorial Squad was overpowered quickly and soon enough Draco was the only one of them not lying on the floor unconsciously. He hadn't really tried to fight anyway.

Very quickly Luna, Ginny, Ron and Neville (Jade wondered how he had gotten here) filed from the office and Jade followed soon after with Draco on her side.

Ginny shouted "We need to follow them into the forest! Quick now!" and the four set off. But Draco took hold of Jade's wrist and held her back "Jade, what is going on here? Granger told Umbridge about some hidden weapon of Dumbledore's in the forest. That isn't true, is it? Granger is a rather bad liar, you know."

"Draco, I can't tell you. I need to go with the others. I have no idea what Hermione has planned, but we need to save them.. We need to go to the Ministry."

"The Ministry? Jade, what are you talking about? What happened? Are you in danger?" he still held her arm and looked at her with a mixture of disbelief, exasperation and worry.

"I can't tell you, Draco." She repeated, but thinking, that if Harry was right, she was just about to walk right into a fight against You-Know-Who himself, and she pulled Draco close to her and kissed him passionately.

Then she pulled away from him again and ran after the other four as if the devil himself was hot on her heels. She heard Draco call her name behind her, but she had no time anymore. And the five of them ran out of the castle and over the grounds. They could see Umbridge, Harry and Hermione at the edge of the forest and they followed them into it.

It took quite some time until they finally found Harry and Hermione, who were arguing about how to go on now, covered in a dark blood-like substance. Quickly they told them how they had escaped, in return getting the story about how Umbridge got taken by a herd of angry centaurs.

Now a heated discussion ensued about how they would get to the Ministry and who would accompany Harry. Neville, Ginny and Luna wanted to come with them and help; and after a large group of Thestrals had appeared, apparently lured by the blood on Harry and Hermione's robes, the question about how to get there answered itself.

Jade was not able to see the Thestrals; as only people who had seen death were able to see the large, winged horses. But she had seen some sketches of them in books and knew that they didn't look too friendly. Luna helped her mount one of the Thestrals and quickly they rose up into the air.

It was a rather bizarre view for Jade, as the seven of them flew through the air apparently without any aid, in weird sitting positions. The cold air blew around her face as she kept patting the creature underneath her. Its skin felt very leathery and smooth, but she could feel the bones right through it, as if it had no flesh at all.

* * *

The flight to London was much faster than Jade had expected it to be and soon they reached the Ministry's visitor entrance. Jade slid down from the Thestral and gave it a little pat, where she supposed its neck to be. Then she followed the others into a telephone box nearby, which looked much too tiny to let the seven of them in at the same time, but as they crammed into it, it widened a little. Ron dialled a number and quickly a cool female voice sounded through the telephone box, asking for their names and business within the Ministry.

A few moments later the telephone box descended down and they reached the atrium of the Ministry. Jade had never been there before and gaped in awe at the huge hall with its highly-polished dark wooden floor and the golden adornments on the walls and the ceiling. Many open fireplaces were lining its walls and in its middle was the _Fountain of Magical Brethren_ with its different magical beings. But the one thing that was most prominent about the atrium was the fact that it was empty.

A sense of trepidation took hold of Jade. This was definitely not normal, was it? Why was there nobody here? Not even some security staff.

Quickly they followed Harry over to the elevators and as its doors closed again, Harry pressed the button of the lowest floor, the Department of Mysteries.

The thoughts shot through Jade's head faster than she could really think them. If Sirius was really here, if You-Know-Who really held him captive, then what were they doing here? Weren't they just running into their own deaths? Wasn't it incredibly stupid to think that they would even stand a chance against _him_?

Jade did not feel scared, but rather a little foolish. Like a child that had done a stupid mistake. And she just wished that this mistake would not cost their lives.

Harry led the way through the corridor and pushed through a door. They entered a large circular room with twelve identical doors and Jade could sense that Harry was suddenly unsure how to go on.

And so they made their way through many different rooms. All of them were very, very weird. The first room contained a large tank, filled with some dark green liquid and brains floating around in it. Another one looked like some sort of amphitheatre with a ancient looking stone arch in its middle; Jade suddenly felt very weird in this room and watched the black veil, which hang from the arch, suspiciously.

And finally they reached the room, Harry had been looking for. It was a very large hall with shelves upon shelves of glass orbs; some of them seemed to be emitting a faint glow.

But very soon realization drew upon Jade: Sirius was not here. Harry had been wrong. And in exactly that moment, Ron shouted through the chamber. He had found something.

One of the many glass orbs on the shelves had Harry's name upon it. It said

S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D.

Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter

Jade had no idea what this thing was, but she told Harry not to touch it, as did Hermione and Neville. But he ignored their warnings and set his hand upon the glass, retrieving it from its shelve.

And right in that moment, a drawling voice sounded through the silent chamber and Jade jumped back in shock. Even though she had never heard it before, she knew to whom this voice belonged. The drawling quality, the slightly raspy note. And Jade turned around to look into the eyes of Lucius Malfoy, who had fixed his view onto the glass ball in Harry's hands.

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

And with a feeling of utter dread, Jade saw that he wasn't alone. Eleven other masked Death Eaters were flanking his sides and encircling the group of her friends. There was no way through their rows. They were trapped.

Jade didn't even listen to the conversation between Malfoy and Harry, but racked her brains for a possible solution. But then a female Death Eater ripped off her mask, it was Bellatrix Lestrange. Jade swallowed hard. This woman was a psychopath and soon enough Jade stepped in front of Ginny protectively, after Bellatrix had suggested torturing her in order to make Harry hand over the 'prophecy'.

And now Jade's thoughts shot into an entire different direction. A prophecy about Harry and You-Know-Who. Of course that would be something the latter would want to hear. Soon it became clear that the Death Eaters were only here to get it for their master, as only he or Harry could lift it from its shelve. It had been a trap from the beginning and Harry tried to buy them more time, now provoking Bellatrix, who shot a Stunning Spell at him. But Lucius Malfoy deflected the spell with a wave of his wand and the red jet of light crashed into one of the shelves, smashing one of the glass orbs. And as the glass was shattered white figures rose out of it, reciting a prophecy.

Maybe there was a way to get out of here after all. It seemed, Harry had had the same idea as Jade and on his signal the D.A. members started smashing the shelves, creating a diversion to run out of the room and through the rows of the Death Eaters.

And once again Jade ran as fast as her feet could carry her. But one of the Death Eaters aimed a Trip Jinx at her and even though she tried to jump over it, it hit her and she crashed down onto the floor. Ignoring her bloody palms, she scrambled up again as quick as she could and seeing that the only chance for her was to run in a different direction than the others, she took a door to her left and darted through.

She heard somebody cry and thought it was Hermione's voice. Jade tried to find her way back to the circular room and was just crossing some kind of office, when two Death Eaters appeared on the other side. She cried out "Stupefy!" and jumped to the side to crouch down behind a desk. A dull thud told her that her hex had hit its target. The smaller one of the Death Eaters had fallen down. Now a jet of red light hit the wall behind her and she was showered in its sparks. She stood up from behind her hiding spot and faced the Death Eater, who was shooting another Stunning Spell at her, but Jade cried "Protego!" just in time. Behind the mask of the man, cold grey eyes were staring at her and Jade's heart almost missed a beat. She knew those eyes, only in their more wild and stormy version. Somehow this disturbed her immensely. She flicked her wand and the slits of the mask knitted together and Jade tried to use the moment to make a run for the door.

But just as she had reached the door, it snapped close on its own. She turned and put up another Shield Charm at the same time. Lucius Malfoy had now ripped off his mask and Jade gasped at his face. She had never ever believed that two people could look so much alike. He just looked like Draco. Like an older, meaner version of Draco, that was currently in for the kill.

She shot another Stunning Spell at him, but he deflected it easily. He made his way around the desk and looked at her coldly, then he waved his wand determinedly and shouted "_Avadra Kedavra_!" and Jade jumped aside as the jet of green light soared past her so closely that she could feel the rush of air, which trailed behind. She collided with the floor hard and as she looked up, she saw that Lucius' curse had hit the bookcase behind her, which wavered and then cracked. The only thing she could do was bury her head in her arms, before a heavy load of books and disrupted wood came crashing down upon her.

It took quite some time until Jade's head was clear enough again to think properly. Every inch of her body hurt, but she needed to get out from under this avalanche of books and wood. Her wand was still in her hand and she thought "Wingardium Leviosa!" and just like that the weight lifted from her body.

Quickly Jade checked herself and although she felt as if she had been rolled over by a train, every bone in her body was intact. She had no idea where the others were by now, so she just made her way through several doors until she found the circular room again. But nobody was here. Were they out already or were they still in here?

But then she heard a voice; it was Ron! And she opened the door right next to her and entered the room with the brains again. Luna, Ginny and Hermione were all lying motionless on the floor and only Ron was conscious and currently battling one of the brains, which had wrapped something like tentacles around his arms. She pointed her wand at the brain and thought "Stupefy!", not wanting to attract attention by saying the spell out loud, and the brain fell off from Ron. Jade quickly made her way over to Hermione and had just crouched down next to her, when she heard a terrible, bloodcurdling scream. It was Neville, who apparently was under great pain. And Jade shot up again and sprinted towards the direction, where she thought she had heard the scream.

She had entered the room with the veiled arch again, where most of the Death Eaters and Harry and Neville were. Neville lay on the floor, still in pain, and Bellatrix stood above him, pointing her wand at him. Down in the middle of the room stood Harry, who was apparently just giving the prophecy over to Lucius Malfoy. And right in that moment a group of people rushed past her: Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Sirius and Mad-Eye! They had come to their aid and a bitter fight ensued.

Jade knew that despite her huge knowledge of defensive spells and many curses, she just was no match for any of the adult Death Eaters. They just had so much more experience in the battlefield and so she just tried to stay in the background, shooting a curse at a random Death Eater or blocking on of theirs from hitting a member from the Order.

Mad-Eye was currently battling two men at once and Jade rushed over to him in order to help. She hit one of the Death Eaters with a Stunning Spell and Mad-Eye snorted approvingly. He shouted out at his other opponent "Well, Lucius, I always knew you were just wrapping the Minister around your finger! Now, the time has come to show your true face to the world!"

The two men fought their hardest against each other and Jade didn't even know how to help as their battle was so fast-paced that she had to fear that she would only hinder or distract Mad-Eye. But then Lucius shot a curse at Mad-Eye, which sent him flying backwards and hit his head hard on the stone wall behind him. Limply he slid down the wall and came to rest motionless on the floor.

Jade didn't even have the time to say a little prayer, before Lucius attacked her once again. And so she stepped into Moody's place and tried her best to avoid the curses, which came flying at her now.

And then, probably out of sheer luck, she cried "Expelliarmus!" and her spell hit him, making his wand fly out of his hand and falling down many of the stone benches, coming to a rest in the middle of the room.

Jade took a very deep breath and shouted "Impedimenta!" and Lucius Malfoy was blasted backwards and frozen in his movement. So there she had him. HIM, Lucius Malfoy. Something inside her stirred. Finally the time had come; it was time for payback.

She approached him with her wand raised and pointed it directly at his chest. Some bitter determination had taken hold of her. She contemplated his appearance, concentrating on the traits that were different from Draco. His hair was longer and a little more silver; his shoulders were definitely broader and when he stood he was even a little taller; and the trait that was distinguishing the two of them the most, although they seemed so similar at first, was his eyes. Lucius' eyes were cold. They may have had the storminess inside them once, but right at this moment.. they seemed so blank somehow.

The impediment jinx seemed to wear of quickly and Lucius Malfoy was now trying to push himself up into a sitting position again, leaning with his back against the wall.

He studied her face for a moment and then asked coldly "Who are you, girl?"

Jade raised her chin a little higher and her voice was strong and proud as she said "Jade Heywood."

Her name seemed to have quite the impact on Lucius, who was suddenly looking nervous. She saw how his eyes darted quickly from her face to his surroundings, searching for some way out of this.

"I see my name rings a bell." Jade said in a chilly voice and tilted her head to one side, awaiting his reaction.

And as Lucius Malfoy apparently had found no escape from this situation, he turned to look Jade in the eye now. She felt how he tried to invade her mind a little and blocked it off. So he was trying Legilimency on her; he probably wanted to find out how serious she was about this.

"You'd better stop trying to invade in my thoughts, Malfoy. Or I finish you off even quicker. Don't you worry about what I'm going to do with you, anyway. After all, the person, who murdered my parents, always beholds a special place in my heart." she spat at him.

Lucius Malfoy furrowed his brow now. Then he shook his head. "I'm not the one you are searching for, little girl. You got the wrong man."

Yes, of course he would say something like this, wouldn't he? She looked into his eyes now, searching for a lie. She couldn't see any. He was laying his mind open in front of her. There was no lie.

So either he was the world's best liar or he was speaking the truth. Now he went on.

"Your father blessed me with a curse that made me unable to move for two entire weeks. The Dark Lord saved my life."

"And took the ones of my parents instead!" snarled Jade and Lucius nodded, not looking into her eyes anymore.

So.. was this true? Or was this just his scheme to get out of this situation. Jade thought that she would get out the truth later and would just stun him now and probably tie him up as well.

And just as she opened her mouth to shoot off her stunning spell, a ricocheting spell from another combatant hit the wall behind Lucius Malfoy and bounced back at her, knocking her wand out of her hand and over to the opposite side of the stone benches.

Lucius reacted immediately and shot up from his position to speed down the stone benches to the spot, where his own wand lay. Jade's eyes widened in shock. There was no way she could reach any of their wands before he did. So she just sprinted after him, concentrating: ears, snout, paws, tail...

And she jumped down several of the stone benches, landing on the back of Lucius Malfoy.. on her shiny black paws. The force of the impact knocked him over and together they rolled down the last few benches. She landed on her side and immediately jumped at him again, but after Lucius Malfoy had realized that a large, black cat of prey was suddenly attacking him, he aimed a stroke at her ribcage with his fist and sent Jade flying backwards.

She saw how he lunged for his wand once again and reacted instinctively, throwing herself at him again. He tried to fight her off, but she clawed at him with all her might, ripping his cloak into shreds. And finally she found a weak spot in his defence and her head shot forwards and she sank her sharp and long teeth deeply into Lucius' shoulder. He let out a cry of agony and Jade bit down harder, tasting his blood. A sudden bloodlust filled up every fibre of her body and Jade bit even harder; it tasted so good. And even though the tiny part of her mind that still had some human form to it was shouting in disgust, the majority of her suddenly got incredibly aroused.

Lucius yelled in pain and aimed one punch after the other at her; but she didn't budge. Her jaw was locked and she wouldn't let go of him. His blood stained the whole front of his robes by now and the smell of it wanted Jade to have more. She wanted to bite in his neck and rip it open.

But at this thought the human part of her was so disgusted and revolted that the feeling made its way through her entire mind and she contented herself on pinning the man down. And finally he gave up all the punching and writhing and she loosened her jaw a little bit. She heard shouts behind her, thinking it was Harry's voice. But what was he saying?

She practically lay on Lucius' upper body now and he let his arms fall in defeat as a blue and white flash engulfed the two of them. Jade's head shot up as she felt her own body tingle and return to its usual human form again. And suddenly the taste of blood in her mouth was so nauseating that she almost felt sick. She pushed up from Lucius' chest and just stared at him for a moment. Blood dripped from her mouth onto his robes as he took deep and heavy breaths, apparently in quite some pain. His eyes found hers and she saw the defeat in them. Just then Jade remembered that someone had made her transfigure and as she turned her head around, she saw Albus Dumbledore tower over them, apparently enchanting the chamber with some spells so the Death Eaters couldn't get out.

He shot Jade a very quick look and smiled at her, mumbling "Quite impressive, Miss Heywood." Then he turned on his heel and rushed up the stone benches and out of the room.

As soon as he was out of sight, Lucius Malfoy closed his hands around Jade's waist and threw her from him with a force that knocked the air out of her lungs as she hit the stone bench behind her.

But she was pulled up quickly again by a strong hand; it was Remus'. He looked as if he was in some deep pain himself as he summoned both Malfoy and Jade's wands and gave the latter one back to its owner. Jade looked aroud her now. The Death Eaters were all rounded up in a corner; all of them were turned with their back towards her. Kingsley was watching them, also wounded. Mad-Eye was hovering above Tonks, mumbling some incantations.

Remus quickly made his way up the stone steps again and left the chamber as Jade turned towards Lucius Malfoy again. She raised her wand and pointed it directly at his face. She saw how he took in a sharp breath and then she cried "_Obliviate!"._


	19. Chapter 19

Half an hour later Jade sat on a stool in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts and waited. Remus Lupin had accompanied her friends and her directly to the Hospital Wing and Madam Pomfrey had fixed Ginny's broken angle and Neville's smashed nose with a swirl of her wand. With Ron and Hermione however the school nurse had a little more trouble. The tentacles of the brain had left angry red burn marks on Ron's arms and nobody knew which spell had hit Hermione, who was still unconscious. Luna had already been on her feet again within the Ministry, after Lupin had performed a little spell on her. Only Harry wasn't with them, but Lupin had assured them that he was alright and just needed to talk to Dumbledore.

So Jade just sat on the stool and waited, fidgeting with one leg and feeling how the adrenaline slowly left her veins and made room for a sharp stinging pain in her side. Neville made his way over to sit next to her and sighed "The man who died was a friend of Harry's, wasn't he?"

Ginny, who had followed Neville, and Jade turned their faces towards him, horror-stricken. Neville looked unpleasantly surprised.

"I... I thought you had seen it. The dark-haired man, Sirius Black, fell through this weird veiled archway. Apparently he couldn't come back through it. Harry was very upset. It was the Lestrange woman who hit Black with the spell, which made him fall. Harry set after her."

Jade had shot up from her sitting place at these news. She felt like her insides had suddenly vanished. Sirius was dead? Suddenly she remembered Harry shouting in the background, while she had fought Malfoy. Now the words echoed clearly in her head. He had shouted _'I'll kill her!'._

Next to her Ginny let out a silent sob and Jade raised her hands to hold her own head, unsure what to do with herself. It seemed so incredibly unreal that Sirius was just gone. It wasn't like she had really known the man behind the slightly sunken face and the roguish grin, but still a feeling of deep sorrow engulfed her heart now.

Still not knowing what to do with herself, she went over to Ginny and patted the girl's back a little in an attempt to console her. But somehow it only made everything worse and tears started rolling down Ginny's freckled face.

Jade shot over a look at Neville, who looked appalled at what he had caused with his words. She knew Ginny didn't really like her, but still she really looked like she needed a hug right now no matter where it came from. And a little in spite of herself, Jade slung her arms around Ginny's shoulders and pulled the girl close. A tiny part of her even expected that the redhead might shove her away, but she only laid her head on Jade's shoulder and cried silently into her hair.

They stood there for quite some time and Jade thought about Sirius and about Harry. It was so incredibly cruel that Death had taken yet another beloved person from Harry's life. A few tears rolled down her own cheeks as she thought of Harry and how devastated and lost he had to feel now. She wished she could do something to help him.. but she knew she couldn't.

And as the pain in her side started to grow unbearable, Ginny let go of her and wiped the tears from her face. She looked at Jade through glassy eyes and muttered "You are splattered with blood, Jade."

Jade looked down the front of her robes and realized that she still had Malfoy's blood on her. She moved over to a little washing basin over in one corner of the room and looked into the mirror, which hang above it. She jumped back at the vision reflected in it. She looked like she hadn't slept for a long time and dried blood was smeared across her chin and neck. A large red stain was right on her chest and Jade took her wand out to remove the blood. Then she washed her hands, her face and her neck thoroughly, but winced a little in pain as she bent over the basin. Something with her ribs wasn't alright.

Madam Pomfrey was just making her way through the large room and Jade approached her slowly. The matron turned to look at her "Oh, Miss Heywood. I quite forgot about you. You seemed to be the fittest out of all of them. Are you quite alright? You seem to be in pain."

Jade nodded and said "It's something with my ribs. I can't breathe properly."

The nurse nodded and motioned Jade over to one of the separated examination cubicles, pulling the curtains close after the two of them entered.

"I need to unclothe your upper body, Miss Heywood." And without much further ado the nurse waved her wand and Jade's cloak and shirt disappeared from her body and returned neatly folded on a little table next to them.

Jade thanked the nurse inwardly for letting her keep her bra on and looked down her body, her eyes widening in shock. Her entire upper body was black and blue. She looked like she had gotten into a pretty ugly fist fight. Madam Pomfrey took in a sharp breath and shook her head.

"These monsters! I can't believe it! You are only children.."

She summoned a thick looking paste from a cupboard somewhere in the room and waved her wand a little around Jade's ribcage.

"You have a tiny partial fracture of one of your ribs. This might hurt a little." A silent cracking noise combined with a sharp pain told Jade that the nurse had healed her rib again. Now she carefully dotted the paste on the many bruises on Jade's skin.

After she was done, she told Jade to get some sleep over in one of the beds and hurried into her storage room to get some more potions for Hermione.

Jade took the nurse's advice, seeing that there wasn't anything for her to do anyway at this time of night. She changed into a dressing gown that had magically appeared on her bedside table and laid down on the bed. Madam Pomfrey returned carrying a pile of flasks in her arms. She set down one of them on Jade's bedside table next to a little cup. It was the _Dreamless Sleep Potion _and thankfully Jade took a few big gulps of it, before drifting off into a deep slumber.

* * *

She awoke very early the next morning and was instantly wide awake. The large clock on the wall told her that it was not yet seven in the morning and she turned to see that all the others were still asleep. Only Madam Pomfrey was already bustling about in her dressing gown, setting up different potions for Ron and Hermione. Jade knew that there was no chance that she might fall asleep again and stood up. Quickly she just threw her robe over her nightgown and walked out of the Hospital Wing silently. She wanted to get a long, hot shower before breakfast. So she made her way up to the Gryffindor tower and let the hot water rinse her body for a very long time.

As she walked into her dormitory again the sun was already shining brightly, but the other girls were still sleeping in, unaware of what had happened last night.

Jade pulled out a white strapless sundress from her trunk and slipped it on. It looked like it might get quite hot today. The dress was designed by a rather famous witch and had several useful charms upon it, for example a little extendable pocket, which expanded to fit her wand, without being noticeable for the outside viewer.

Jade pulled her long hair up into a high ponytail and turned to walk back to the Hospital Wing again. Maybe Hermione had woken up by now.

As she walked into the Hospital Wing, her face lit up immediately. Hermione was sitting upright in her bed, leaning on her cushions and drinking a wild variety of potions. Ron was up in the bed next to her, devouring his breakfast. Ginny, Luna and Neville weren't there anymore; apparently they had gone down to the Great Hall for breakfast. But Jade had no appetite anyway. So she just sat on the corner of Hermione's bed and the two girls started talking about everything that had happened. Hermione still was under quite some pain and Jade knew that she wanted to appear stronger than she really was.

Suddenly the double doors of the Hospital Wing flew open and a tall figure made its way through. Jade turned her head around and saw Blaise enter, who looked around the room with a slightly panicky look on his face. Then his eyes found hers and the look on his face changed into a furious expression. He took long strides and came closer to Hermione's bed, clutching something which looked like the _Daily Prophet_.

"Morning Blaise!" she smiled at him in an attempt to soften his mood a little. She had a vague idea, what she had coming for her now.

"Have you gone bloody _mental_?" he spat out as soon as he stood right in front of her, thrusting the paper into her lap. Jade looked down upon it and read the headline '_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returned'. _Stifling a sigh, Jade tried to set up her most innocent expression as she turned her head up to look at Blaise again.

"Oh, don't even try the puppy eyes, Jade. I'm not buying it! What on earth were you thinking?" he hissed out in a low tone. Merlin, he really was furious, wasn't he? Jade knew that normally Blaise wouldn't lose his temper like that in front of people he did not know well enough, like Hermione and Ron. But right now his eyes were shooting daggers at her and his fists were clenched tightly.

"Blaise, why are you so angry? I.." Jade tried to defend herself, but Blaise wasn't having a word of it.

"Why am I _angry_?" His eyes turned into slits now. He looked very mad, but his voice still was nothing more than an icy hiss.

"Maybe because you just ran off last night, without giving me the slightest hint about what was going on. The only thing I knew is that you ran out of the castle and, yes Malfoy told me, were headed for the Ministry of Magic! Obviously I had no means of following you there so I ran around the castle for the whole night, hoping you might turn up eventually and getting caught not once, nor twice, but thrice by that ugly cat and ended up camping in front of your bloody Common Room. To no avail obviously! And this morning I read the newspaper and see this! '_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returned - Death Eaters invade the Ministry.'_ Honestly, that sentence almost gave me heart failure. And now I find you, sitting on this bed, apparently unscathed and _grinning_ in my face!" He had started pacing along the side of Hermione's bed now.

"Blaise, I'm sorry, I really had no time to tell you. It all happened rather fast." Jade spoke softly to him, but Blaise only shook his head now.

He turned and shot Hermione a very, very dirty look and said "I knew hanging around with Potter and his friends would end in you risking your neck for them!"

Jade let out a sigh now and stood up from the bed. She turned towards Hermione, who was watching Blaise curiously."Hermione, would you excuse us?"

"Of course!" and with a look towards Blaise she added "Might I borrow this newspaper of yours? It gets so boring inside here."

Blaise only nodded curtly and turned to walk out of the Hospital Wing. Jade followed suit and tried again.

"Blaise, don't be mad. I did not really do anything wrong."

He didn't answer, but as soon as they had turned the corner of the Hospital Wing, Blaise stopped in his tracks and pulled Jade towards him. He engulfed her in his arms "Don't _ever_ do this again! I'm serious."

Jade looked up into his handsome face, which was still full ofworry. Somehow she could swear that this boy grew inches overnight. He was even taller than Draco now, which had definitely not been the case at the start of school term. Blaise let out a deep breath now and let go of her again.

"It was just the most horrifying feeling I ever had. I knew something was going on there. I mean, Potter always has a way of landing himself in trouble. And I almost went berserk, knowing that right in this moment something could happen to you, and I had to sit in this stupid castle and couldn't move a finger to help you. How on earth did you get out of there, Jade?"

The two of them made their way out of the castle and towards the edge of the lake, while Jade told Blaise the entire story. It really was a gorgeous day and most of the students were already outside, laying in the sun or swimming in the lake. Blaise and Jade went over to sit under one of the beech trees. Blaise had listened to her without making any interruptions. At some parts he sucked in air or let out a breath, he had been holding. And as she was finished, he just watched her for a moment in thought.

"So there really is a prophecy about Harry Potter and You-Know-Who. I guess, he really might be the _Chosen One_ after all. A shame that nobody heard what the prophecy said when Longbottom smashed it." He contemplated this for a moment and then he moved and patted the top of her head, tousling up her hair.

"And my little girl is getting Death Eaters locked up now. Your uncle will be really proud, I guess. I wish I could say the same, but I still think this whole idea was rather bird-brained in the first place."

Somehow after everything had been told, there was only one pressing matter on Jade's mind left.

"I guess it kind of was... But Blaise, do you have any idea where Draco is? He probably already knows about everything, doesn't he?"

"Well, Professor Snape summoned him into his office this morning. I didn't see him since, but I guess he can't be happy. It's his father, who sits in Azkaban, after all. I have absolutely no idea how he will react. But if I can give you a small advice, then you'd better keep the part with feeding on his father to yourself. He probably won't react too well to that piece of information." Blaise said dryly.

He added "I think he already suspected something. When I came back to the dormitories in the early morning, not a sound came through the curtains around his bed. It was much too silent for him to be asleep. But he didn't ask me whether I found you or anything either. Guess he did not really want to find out what happened. I'm not really sure about him, Jade. I know he likes you more than he usually likes anyone. But the Malfoys stick together. That's something that will never change... And speaking of the devil.. " Blaise had turned around in direction of the castle and Jade followed his gaze.

A group of Slytherins led by Draco was making its way through the large wooden doors. The others flanked Draco's sides, exactly as the Death Eaters had done with Malfoy senior. Jade gulped as she realized that the group included Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Theodore Nott. She had fought all of their fathers yesterday and they were all imprisoned now. She had the foreboding feeling that this picture of the boys in front of the castle was a foreshadowing of the future.

The Slytherins made their way down to the lake and Draco's eyes were fixed on Blaise. As they were nearer, he shouted "Zabini! Get over here!"

Blaise grimaced towards Jade; she knew he hated it when someone bossed him around. And then he stood up very slowly and walked over the grass towards his housemates as if he had all the time in the world. While Draco stood there awaiting him, the other Slytherins had taken to skipping rocks over the water of the lake, trying to _accidentally_ hit as many swimmers as possible.

It only took a moment until Blaise returned and sat beside Jade again, mumbling "He wants to meet you. Today after lunch in the Boathouse. And I'm not delivering him a reply back; I'm not an owl."

Jade turned towards Draco once more and finally he returned her gaze, raising his eyebrows. Jade nodded and he turned immediately in a swirl of his black robes. Somehow this quick encounter left an icy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She stayed in the sun with Blaise for the entire time until lunch. They lay in the grass next to each other; at times they would talk and at times they would stay silent. And Jade knew that the mere presence of each other was calming both of them down greatly.

* * *

After lunch she made her way down to the lake again. Even more students were down there now and Jade spotted Roger Davis and a few other Ravenclaws on the little wooden pier, which reached a little into the lake. While the girls were tanning, Roger ran down the pier and jumped into the lake, splashing the girls with water. Jade could hear their screams of protest all the way up the little hill.

The boathouse was at the other end of the lake and it took Jade quite some time to reach it. She tried to turn the door knob, but it wouldn't budge. So she took out her wand and tapped the lock lightly with it, muttering "Alohomora!". The lock clicked silently and Jade was able to enter. Inside there were many little boats lining the walls and bobbing up and down in the water. The sunlight was reflected in the water and danced along the wooden walls and ceiling of the boathouse.

It didn't take too long until the door opened a second time and the familiar blond head of Draco appeared in the frame. He pulled the door close behind him and locked it with his wand. Then he turned towards Jade and this time she could see the wild mixture of emotions, which was reflected in his grey eyes.

For a moment both of them said nothing and Draco only twirled his wand in his fingers. He was probably thinking about what he was going to say now. Finally he began, spurting out his thoughts rather quickly.

"I tried to make up my mind the whole morning about how I should react to all this. I guess something like this was bound to happen sooner or later.

"And you know I'm not naive. I know that people like my aunt Bellatrix weren't there to make prisoners. They were there to kill. And I guess that another possible alternative to my father getting imprisoned would be you lying under the earth. And I guess, if I had been asked beforehand, I would have chosen the way it did happen after all. Albeit not as easily as one might think. For one reason the thought of my father sitting in Azkaban.." he didn't finish the sentence, but only shook his head.

"And I tell you.. if I ever get a chance, I'll pay Potter back" he spitted out ferociously.

Jade didn't contradict him. She knew that he had to chose someone to take his anger out on and probably she could count herself happy not to be the '_Chosen One'_. Poor Harry, he was always the one people chose to blame for everything.

Now Draco went on "But there is another reason. Since earlier this school year I knew that Nott had seen his own mother die; thereby he was able to see the Thestrals. But I never knew why she died; this morning he told me. He was only a baby when his father failed on a very important mission for the Dark Lord. And the Dark Lord was furious, so he chose to punish Nott's father by killing his beloved wife.. while she was still holding Theodore in her arms." His voice ceased now and he looked deeply into Jade's eyes. "I'm worried Jade... about mother.. What if he will do something to her?"

Jade closed the empty space between them and took his hand into hers. She was going to say something, she had been thinking about for quite some time. "Join the Order, Draco."

He didn't pull back his hand, but he snorted and shook his head. "I guess that would shorten the lifespan of my mother only further."

"We could hide her, too. I mean after all, You-Know-Who wants all of us dead; Harry, the Weasleys, my family, practically the complete Order. We are all more or less hiding from him."

Draco looked at her a little sadly and said "Yeah and the thing is.. I don't think Potter will survive. I don't think Dumbledore will have enough power this time to thwart the Dark Lord. I really have no intention to die, but somehow I don't really have a chance on either side. I think if he wants to, he will get me either way. And until that time I need to keep my family safe. I will return this summer and see what will happen. I'm not going to leave my mother on her own."

Jade nodded and Draco took both of her hands into his own. "Jade, do you think I could visit you over summer? Just in case something happens. I don't even know where you live. I couldn't find you, if I needed you."

"Of course... There are some heavy protective enchantments around our family estate, including the Fidelius Charm. And I guess if you set foot on our land, our wards will be set off. I think it would be the best idea if I went to the library later today and look for a map, so you can find me without getting caught by my uncle first."

Draco took her face in between his hands now and lowered his head to place a kiss on her lips. Jade's stomach made a little flip. It hadn't done that for quite some time, but the uncertainty of how Draco would react had made her a little fidgety.

Draco broke the kiss again and mumbled against her lips. "I need to go now. I have to finish my letter to mother." He gave her another little kiss and then whispered "I don't know what I would have done, if something had happened to you."

He rested his forehead against hers for a moment and then pulled back again, stroking her cheek with his hand.

"Tomorrow there'll be a celebration in the Slytherin Common room; the usual end of term party. But I would much rather spend the last night here with you. It might get a little late though."

He looked hopefully at her and Jade smiled "I'll just wait in our study room for you, if you give me the key."

Draco nodded and rummaged in his bag, pulling out the ancient looking key and handing it over to Jade. After one last little kiss, he turned towards the wooden door and left the boathouse.

* * *

Jade was walking along the side of the lake on her way back to the castle as a voice shouted her name.

"Hey! Jade! Wait a moment!" It was Roger, who jogged towards her now, splattering water everywhere. He was just wearing a pair of swimming trunks and Jade had to say that his body wasn't bad. He was smaller than Draco, but toned like the typical Quidditch Player.

"Why are you wandering alone around the grounds?" he came nearer now and lowered his voice a little "I heard what happened last night. Are you all right?"

She nodded and looked at Roger a little quizzically "How do you know that I was with Harry? I heard _The Prophet_ wasn't that clear on which students were inside the Ministry yesterday."

He smiled at her showing off his perfect teeth and said, twinkling at her "Oh, the Hogwarts news network is faster than you think."

Jade nodded and answered the question, he had asked earlier. "Well, I got out of there almost unscathed. The others are more or less all right as well. Thank Merlin.. "

Roger nodded sympathetically. "Come on, let's cheer you up a little. Want to go for a swim?"

Jade just wanted to find some quick excuse for not being able to go, but without giving her any warning, Roger had already scooped her up from the ground and turned towards the pier, carrying her in his arms.

Oh no.. Jade had a bad feeling about this. "Roger please.. Don't!"

She squealed in his arms, but he only chuckled and dripped water all over her. His intentions were quite clear as he sped up towards the end of the pier and the other Ravenclaw boys started cheering him.

"No! Roger! Stop it!" she tried to fiddle her wand out of her dress, but the stupid pocket was untraceable. She hammered against his chest now.

"If you throw me in there my dress will become see-through!" It was the only thing, which came to her mind in that moment. Well, the dress was white after all!

Strangely this sentence finally stopped the boy. He looked down at her, grinning mischievously.

"Really? You're absolutely, positively sure about that?"

She slapped him across his chest and carefully he set her down again. Thank Merlin!

"I would never throw a girl like you in the cold water anyway." He smiled charmingly at her and sat down on the planks of the pier, patting the spot next to him.

Usually she really liked Roger; he had often helped her with her homework during the year and had given her some of his old study materials for her O.W.L. preparations. He was really clever and polite, but Jade just hated it when he became so.. pushy.

Nevertheless she slipped out of her ballerina flats and sat down next to him, letting her feet dangle above the water.

He looked at her and moved his hand to pat her back gently. "I'm really glad that nothing happened to you! What you did was pretty brave, you know.. I admire that. Did you know that the Sorting Hat considered putting me into Gryffindor for a moment? But I guess, I am much more of a Ravenclaw character after all." He grinned at her and moved his hand up to give the end of her ponytail a little flick.

"I like your hair like that. It looks cute."

Jade just smiled at this compliment and her view trailed over a group of swimming girls in the lake. One of them, Roger's latest conquest, was currently glowering at Jade. What was her name again?

"How is Susan? Are you guys still together?" She asked Roger, who let out a silent snort.

"Merlin, no! I only went out with her for a few weeks. She really is a stage five clinger, if you ask me. And I can't deal with that. But what's going on with you? I would have wagered my vault at Gringotts that you were with a guy until the end of term. But you're still single? Or is there someone outside of school?"

Jade considered for a moment what she was going to tell him. Then she shrugged, saying "I guess, I'm kind of.. _emotionally unavailable_."

Roger smiled knowingly. "It's the Zabini guy, isn't it? You're always hanging around with him. It's kind of intimidating to be honest. The tall black guy, always standing by your side with his hawk-like eyes.."

Jade shook her head. "It's not Blaise."

Roger chuckled a little. "Of course it's not." But he didn't really believe her, she knew that. Well, where was the point in denying it, if he didn't listen to her anyway?

"But if I can give you some small advice, Jade. Don't get into a relationship with a Slytherin. They either have problems with commitment or with intimacy. I tried several times and it always ended in a catastrophe."

Roger shook his head and went on. "I think I'll stay single for a while now. I'm kind of fed up with dating. And to be honest, there aren't even any interesting girls left, who are not in a relationship already or _emotionally unavailable._"

He grinned at Jade, while saying this and they sat there for some time chatting about this and that until Jade went up to the Hospital Wing again to look after Ron and Hermione.


	20. Chapter 20

Draco was sitting on his bed inside the dormitory, reading the letter his mother had sent him this morning for what felt like the umpteenth time. It was Sunday evening and downstairs in the Slytherin Common Room the party preparations were almost done, while Draco still brooded over the piece of parchment in his hands.

His mother had visited his father in Azkaban the day before and apparently he had been in an alright state. Nevertheless he had sent his wife home rather quickly, not wanting her to stay too long in a place like the Wizarding prison.

Technically his father had gotten a life sentence in Azkaban, but Draco doubted greatly that he would stay in there longer than a few months at the most. Evers since the mass breakout in January, the Dementors of Azkaban were no longer under the control of the Ministry and it would probably be an easy task for the Dark Lord to get his Death Eaters out of there, if he really wanted to.

In fact it would probably be a bad sign if his father was kept in Azkaban longer than a few weeks; that would only show that the Dark Lord was so angry at Lucius that he abandoned him in Azkaban longer than necessary.

His mother hadn't written anything about the Dark Lord's wrath in her letter, but Draco still had the dreadful feeling in the pit his stomach that his family was going to be punished for his father's failure eventually. Right now he had no idea what was going to happen over the summer, but he was sure that something grave was being kept in store for him.

After all the Dark Lord had returned openly now and the 'fun' hadn't even started yet. The Death Eaters were known as the masters of spreading panic and terror. Mudbloods were going to be tortured, Muggles were going to be slaughtered, the pandemonium was about to begin just like it had last time, Draco was sure of it.

And just as his thoughts spiralled down to the memories of the pictures of tortured Muggles, he had seen last summer, the door of the dormitory swung open and Blaise's tall figure emerged through it with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. Quickly Draco folded up the letter again and shoved it under his cushion.

"You're coming down, Malfoy? They already started without you."

Through the open door Draco could hear chattering and loud music; he stood up from his bed and glanced into the mirror. Pansy, who had organized the evening, had insisted on everyone dressing up tonight. Obviously Blaise never really need to care about such dress-codes as he was always dressed impeccably, but seeing that even Crabbe and Goyle had been terrorized by Pansy into wearing their finest robes, Draco reached over to his already packed trunk and pulled a few of the first dressy items he found out of it; a waistcoat and a bow tie. Well, that should do it.

He wouldn't really bother tying the bow tie as he hated the feeling of tightness around his throat and also rather kept the few first buttons of his shirt open. But simply laying it around the back of his neck would probably keep Pansy from getting all huffed up about his lack of dressiness.

While he threw on the waistcoat, he shot a quick glance over at Crabbe and Goyle and drawled "Crabbe, Goyle, get downstairs and reserve some seats for Blaise and me."

'Reserving seats' basically meant that they should just throw everybody out of Draco's favourite armchairs by the fireplace. While Goyle just grunted stupidly, Crabbe looked a little defiant. But the look vanished from his face after Draco had sent him a pointed look and the two large boys shuffled their way out of the room. Draco had noticed lately that Crabbe was getting a little noncompliant. He would have to change that soon enough.

Blaise still stood in the doorway, leaning on its frame casually; he threw a glance behind his back.

"I think tonight might get a little crazy. I heard Urquhart even smuggled some weird hallucinogenic herbs in here.. to smoke obviously." Blaise stated matter-of-factly.

Draco was bending down to tie his shoe laces and smirked to himself. As he straightened up again he sneered "Well, if I were Urquhart, I would definitely rely on some strong weed to brighten up my life, too. But it's not as if I really cared what was going on tonight. I'm not planning on staying too long."

Blaise raised his eyebrows "So you're meeting up with Jade later?" As Draco nodded and moved to pocket his wand, Blaise stepped further into the room and closed the door behind him.

"You know Malfoy, usually I wouldn't even bother to warn you and just lean back and enjoy the show. However.. yesterday a little bird told me quite an interesting story." He lowered his voice a little now. "If I were you, I wouldn't touch any drink that was being offered to me tonight." He gave Draco a pointed look and turned towards the door again.

What in the name of Merlin's pants was this supposed to mean? Was someone going to poison him? And what did he mean when saying he would usually 'enjoy the show'?

"Blaise! Wait a moment! What are they trying to do with me? And who are they?" his voice sounded a little more panicky than he would have liked it. But his nerves had lain blank for the entire day and now Blaise was delivering him some cryptic message. He'd better spit it out already.

The dark-skinned boy turned around again and contemplated Draco a moment through his long, slanted eyes. Apparently he pondered whether he should tell Draco the entire story. Finally he spoke "Well, word is that some of the fourth years placed a rather large order for several of the Weasley's joke objects. Apparently they developed a new branch of products.. for rather desperate young witches. I saw the package after it arrived and, besides the usual sweets and stupid joke items, it was filled with bottles labelled as '_Beguiling Bubbles' _or_ 'Kissing Concoction'_. And I happen to know that a certain girl is going to spike your drink with some love potion tonight."

"It's Pansy, isn't it?"

Blaise smirked a little. "No, actually Pansy went quite berserk when she learned about this. You know, back then when I was seeing Astoria " He spitted out the name in disgust. "there was a weird little bet going on in her circle of friends. One girl claimed that she would be able to get laid by each and every member of the Slytherin Quidditch team within the year. And if my ears didn't betray me you're the only one on her list, she still has to seduce.. aside from Crabbe and Goyle obviously. Her name is Celia. You probably have seen her around somewhere.. rather small with dark hair."

Draco just shrugged. There were a lot of crazy girls in Slytherin house and he usually never set his eyes upon them. He would just take Blaise's advice and only drink out of bottles, which clearly hadn't been opened before. A feeling of gratitude towards the boy emerged in him. If that girl had succeeded in her plan, Draco probably would have stood Jade up AND cheated on her in one night.

The gratitude was quickly replaced with fury. Who did this girl think she was? Celia was her name, right? She was definitely going to pay for thinking she could do something like this. A plan already formed in his head.

"Thanks mate, for telling me. I really appreciate it." He made his way towards the door, when Blaise held him back and pulled three little objects out of the pocket of his trousers, small two-coloured sweets.

"Malfoy, I don't want Jade to be alone tonight for too long. Pick one of those: _Fever Fudge_, _Nosebleed Nougat_ or _Puking Pastille_. It will probably make your getaway from the party later a lot easier." After Draco had picked the _Nosebleed Nougat_, Blaise added "And don't think I would do any of this for _you_." And he turned swiftly to leave the room in front of Draco.

* * *

Pansy really had done a good job with the Common Room; it glimmered in a deep green light and large buffet was set up over in a corner. Draco knew that Pansy had asked the Hogwarts' house-elves to bring some food and drinks down here. Most of the Slytherins were gathered around the open fireplace, although Pansy and her friends had forbidden any students below fourth year to be down here tonight. Draco made his way over to the armchairs and sat down next to Blaise, who was currently observing a conversation between Warrington and Pucey. 'Observing' really was the right word for what Blaise was doing. He never really engaged in the conversation himself; but only let out small pointed coughs whenever Warrington had said something embarrassingly stupid.

Draco watched Blaise for a moment and thought that this boy really was the ultimate Slytherin. A silent observer and cold as ice most of the time. He would never do anything without having some ulterior motive behind it. But if he ever had taken someone into his heart, he probably would go to the end of the world for them. Most of the students in Slytherin were just plain selfish and only cared for their own interests; but Blaise had the ability to include another person into his selfishness and care even more about them. The only other Slytherins Draco knew, who could do that, were in fact his parents.

Suddenly Draco felt a little embarrassed and sheepish; it was _love_, wasn't it? It was _love_, which made them act this way. His parents loved each other. And apparently Blaise loved Jade, although in a slightly different way. By now Draco was entirely sure that Blaise had no affectionate feelings for Jade, because otherwise he could never have endured all the kissing and flirting of Jade and Draco right under his nose.

The whole idea of love somehow made Draco feel uncomfortable and he turned his head to look into the fireplace before Blaise would notice his staring.

The party finally got started and the liquor really was flowing tonight. Draco was sure that at least five of the girls and two of the guys would end up in the Hospital Wing later to sober up. He kept his eyes open for the small dark-haired girl, Blaise had been referring to, but soon enough another one landed in his lap. It was Pansy, who was extremely wasted.

"Drakie!" she screeched and slung her arms around his neck "I haven't seen you all night! I missed you!"

Oh Merlin, she really was drunk. She almost slipped from his lap and automatically Draco wrapped his arm around her waist to catch her. She giggled and took Draco's bottle of butterbeer from his hand to take another swig.

"Pans darling, ease off the liquor." He took the bottle out of her grasp and Pansy giggled again. Draco knew that when Pansy was drunk she was slightly tamer and friendlier, but also incredibly clingy and touchy-feely.

Pansy was a person, who could get incredibly annoying when being around her for too long. But during the last few weeks she had really kept her distance towards Draco and he felt that he could finally enjoy her company again. She was a good friend of him after all.

Right now she was leaning up and trying to whisper into his ear, although it was more of a silent shouting.

"You know Drakie, Montague just asked me to go out with him." She giggled even more now and clutched the front of Draco's shirt.

When Montague asked a girl to go out with him, he usually just wanted to get a quick lay. After all he never got into a relationship with Astoria after she had cheated on her boyfriend with him.

"You know Pans, whatever you decide to do, just take it slow with him, alright?"

Her eyes were a little glazed as she looked up at Draco and she nodded. "You're so right." She leaned over and kissed his cheek and then staggered up from his lap to look for Montague. Draco had the distinct feeling that she had smeared her red lipstick all over his face and sure enough a moment later Blaise casually reached over a handkerchief towards him, so he could wipe the red stain from his face.

"Thanks" Draco muttered. It only took half an hour until Pansy was getting all hot and heavy with Montague over on a table next to the buffet. Draco shook his head. Slytherin girls were really so extremely promiscuous.

And speaking of promiscuous girls: a dark-haired girl had sat down on the armrest of his chair and was leering down at him. She was actually one of the hot Slytherin girls; with sleek dark hair, which was almost black, and a nice figure. But her makeup was too thick, her neckline too plunging and her skirt too short. She looked kind of cheap. Although there was something about her, which reminded him of Jade; only in the sluttier version.

"Firewhiskey?" she offered him a glass of reddish brown liquid and her voice made Draco jump a little; it was much deeper than he had expected it to be. Draco heard Blaise let out one of his pointed little coughs next to him.

So this was Celia, wasn't it? He smirked at her and took the glass from her hands. And she raised her own glass and muttered "Bottoms up, Malfoy!"

But Draco didn't raise the glass to his mouth; instead he sat it down upon the armrest, which was not currently occupied, and twirled the glass in his hand. He noticed how Blaise watched him out of the corner of his eyes.

Draco shot a quick glance over at the large grandfather clock. It was already eleven o'clock. The girl on his armrest had somehow made him think of Jade again. He really wanted to get together with her now. He needed to get through with this quickly.

So trying to look as absentmindedly as he could muster, he raised the glass to his lips and turned away from the girl, so she couldn't see that he was not really taking a sip.

He sank back into his chair and looked up into the face of the girl, who was looking expectantly at him now. So this .._witch_.. had really spiked his whiskey, hadn't she? Who did she think she was that she could play around with a Malfoy like this? If she had really succeeded in ruining this last night he had with Jade, Draco would probably have had to kill her afterwards. He felt cold fury rise up inside of him. But he just gulped it down for the moment.

Draco beckoned her to come closer now and she leaned down, offering him quite the open view into her neckline. Slightly disgusted Draco looked over her shoulder, while whispering huskily into her ear.

"I don't even know your name, but I have a feeling that we could have quite some fun tonight. Meet me in the hallway. You lead the way; I'll follow you in a moment."

The girl traced the neckline of his shirt with her long fingernails and Draco shuddered inwardly. He hated it to be touched by a filthy girl like her. But he needed to pull through with this right now.

"You're in for quite the treat, you know." The girl said suggestively and stood up to walk away from him, swaying in her hips in a ridiculously overdone way. Merlin those girls, who tried so hard to be sexy and alluring, were just such a turn-off.

After he had seen her vanish from the Common Room, he scooped up the glass of firewhiskey and his bottle of butterbeer and made his way over to Crabbe.

"Vince, come on. Let's have a drink!" Crabbe looked a little surprised, but accepted the firewhiskey and grunted "Cheers, Draco!"

Draco smirked a little as he took a sip from his own bottle. The reaction on Crabbe's face was apparent. For a moment it just looked blank, but then a weird gleam appeared in his pig-like eyes. "Celia.." he grunted and took another sip of the whiskey "Draco, I want Celia!" This time his grunt was much fiercer.

Draco smirked "I know how you could get her." Crabbe looked positively greedy now. His eyes were wide as he watched Draco, wanting him to go on.

"But first" Draco continued "You need to empty your drink." And Crabbe gulped down the whole glass and as he was done he smashed it onto the floor and took hold of Draco's upper arm. "Tell me!" he almost shouted at him and shook him hard.

"Crabbe, let go of me or you'll never get her!" Immediately Crabbe let go of Draco's arm as if he had been burned. So the fiery longing he apparently felt for Celia right now made him resort to violence, Draco noted with an evil grin. Well, that was what he wanted, wasn't it? This girl would know not to trifle with a Malfoy after this night.

He leaned over to Crabbe and muttered in his ear. "Celia waits outside in the hallway. I told her I would send her a surprise. And don't be discouraged if she tries to shoot you down. She just wants to play hard to get."

After hearing those words Crabbe stormed off. Draco smirked, incredibly satisfied with himself, and returned to his armchair. He noticed the questioning look Blaise sent towards him, but just ignored it. He waited for a few minutes, but the party was so heated by now that he was sure that he could get out of there without even having to take a bite of the _Nosebleed Nougat_.

And a moment later he stepped through the gap in the wall and out into the hallway. He had to be careful now not to be caught by anyone. He had only made it around a few corners, when he heard voices. He could make out the cries of a girl.. and the grunting of a guy.

He came nearer towards the voices now and was able to make out what they said.

"No, no! Please! Don't! Let go of me! Please!" It was Celia's voice; but now it was no longer deep. It was high-pitched in apparent terror.

"No! Please! Malfoy said he would meet me here. He must get here any minute... Look there he is!"

He saw the relief on her face as she saw him. Crabbe had pinned her to the wall and was pressing his massive body into hers.

But Draco only smirked coldly at her as he passed them and spat out "You should have known better than to try to mess around with a Malfoy. That's what you get for it!" He spat another rude curse word at her and saw how her hopeful face turned into an expression of utter dread.

"NO! Please! Malfoy! Draco, you can't do this! Don't leave me alone! I'm sorry! I never meant to..." Tears were streaking down her cheeks, leaving black trails of smudged mascara. Her lipstick was smeared all over her face thanks to Crabbe's disgustingly sloppy 'kisses'.

But it left Draco cold. He merely sneered at her and turned to walk away through the corridor. Her cries echoed through the hallway, accompanied by Crabbe's deep grunts.

So she wanted a Quidditch player and she got a Quidditch player. Draco was no nice guy. He had never pretended to be one. He would always defend himself with his own means. And girls like her needed to be put in their places.

He had made it around another corner and could still hear the cries and whimpers of the girl, when suddenly a door behind him banged open.

He cursed under his breath. It was Professor Snape. Draco jumped into a little alcove and prayed to Merlin that Snape hadn't seen him. The professor held his wand aloft and after he had made out the direction of the cries, he started to jog forwards and Draco saw a flash of light as Snape turned into the corridor, where Crabbe and Celia were in.

Draco took the opportunity and got out of his hiding place and quickly made the way out of the dungeons. He really needed to get to Jade now. He knew that Crabbe wouldn't get into trouble; he had been poisoned after all. And an expert like Snape would probably see that right away.

The way up to the sixth floor went over rather smoothly. He only once bumped into Mrs Norris, but petrified her with his wand before she could even make a sound.

* * *

And finally he stood in front of the tapestry of the dancing Banshees; somewhere in the castle a bell chimed midnight. He revealed the door behind the tapestry and twisted the door knob. It wasn't locked. So he pushed it open and stepped inside the room. It was only dimly lit, but in the dying light of the fireplace Draco could make out a huge bed, which had appeared right next to the large windows. Quietly he locked the door from the inside and made his way over to the sleeping form on the bed.

His girl lay there, her long hair was sprawled out on one of the many cushions and her face was looking incredibly peaceful. And right then and there he knew that everything he had done tonight, he had done for her. She just looked so beautiful.

Draco placed his wand next to hers on the little couch table. They were exactly the same length and shared the same core. But hers was made out of ebony and much darker than his own hawthorn wand. He kicked off his shoes now and sat on the side of the bed.

He reached out his hand to smooth a strand of hair out of her face. She stirred and her long-lashed eyes fluttered open, tickling his palm. She looked a little disorientated; but in a cute way.

"I'm sorry it took so long, Jade. I needed to take care of something." He whispered down at her.

She pushed herself up in the bed now. "Oh no worries, Draco. I just got so tired and the couch isn't really comfortable if you sit on there too long."

He looked at her a little sheepishly. "I'm really sorry. I hadn't planned it this way. I thought, I could get out of there at about ten. I really wanted to spend this evening with you."

She smiled at him and leaned back against the headboard of the bed, pulling her legs up with her. The white sheets slipped down from her body and exposed her long, slender legs. She was only wearing a little sundress and Draco couldn't resist the temptation of trailing a hand along her leg. He didn't even know why she always aroused him this much this quickly, but there was something about her, that simply drove him crazy. Maybe it was this air of innocence, she had around her. At times she could be pretty bold and she definitely had a vampy side to her. And hell, she really knew how to tease him badly. But then again whenever they went a little further, she would always get shy and give him this doe-like look of hers.

But maybe it was just the combination of her smell, the softness of her skin and the tenderness of her kisses that made him cherish every moment he spend with her. He knew that this night might be the last time they really saw each other for a long time.

So Draco got into bed beside her and cupped her face with his hand. The skin of her cheek was incredibly smooth to his touch and in contrast to the Slytherin girls, she wasn't wearing any makeup. And somehow this made the moment even more intimate. He was looking into her deep brown eyes for a moment and suddenly realized that he really was head over heels for this girl. He had always fancied her from the start, but his decision yesterday had been something very meaningful. Not to turn against her, although she had fought his own father. It was something he knew, he hadn't done if he didn't really .. well, he could confess it, couldn't he.. at least in front of himself... he really was in love with her, wasn't he?

"So are you going to simply stare at me for another hour or will you kiss me already?" Jade laughed and pulled Draco closer by his open bow tie, stirring him up from his reverie. He growled and closed the empty gap between them.

It didn't take too long and Draco and Jade were getting very passionate. They had never spent a night alone with each other, let alone lie in the same bed together. And quickly enough Jade threw Draco's waistcoat and shirt on the floor next to the bed, followed soon after by his pants.

Draco could honestly say that he had never ever been this aroused in his entire life. He wanted her soo badly. But then again he knew that her first time should be something incredibly special. It shouldn't be rushed like this. But then he finally took off her dress and as she lay in front of him, only in her lingerie, he couldn't help but let out a deep moan. This was pure torture.

He trailed little kisses along her neck and down her collar bone, his hands were moving steadily down her body.

"Draco" her breathing was a little ragged "Don't go further tonight."

And Draco moved his hands up again to hold her face, while he kissed her lips again. A part of him was slightly disappointed, but another part was even relieved. He knew this wasn't how it was supposed to happen and he was grateful that she had had the strength to deny him what he wanted so badly.

They stayed up very late this night and Draco pushed the boundaries of 'not going further' quite a bit. He was male after all.

Eventually, when the sky outside started to become lighter again and their feelings had cooled down a little, Draco pulled her towards him and Jade rested her head on his chest. And just holding her like this and lying here in this warm and cosy bed together felt incredibly great. He never wanted to let go of her and he inhaled her scent deeply, feeling how her hands moved up to stroke his chest. It only took a moment until they drifted off to sleep.


	21. Chapter 21

The next morning Jade awoke as the faint light of the new day started streaming through the high windows. She lay on her side and Draco was right behind her; his arm was slung around her, holding her tightly to his body. She felt the warmth of his skin against hers and the steady movement of his breathing. Slowly she stirred a little and turned around to face him and was taken aback a bit as she looked right into a pair of stormy grey eyes. Draco was already awake and was watching her abstractedly with his head propped up on his hand; his hair was a right mess, but in the light of the day he somehow looked even more handsome in his current undressed state. She huddled up to his chest and Draco raised his arm to tangle his hand in her hair. Jade simply loved the feeling of Draco's arms around her; it felt so safe. And he truly had nice muscles.

"We didn't sleep in and missed the departure of the Hogwarts Express, did we?" Jade mumbled, looking up at him and Draco shook his head. "No, it's still pretty early. We have three hours until the train departs. But I guess either way we have to get up soon. If I sneak into the Common Room at this time, I can still pretend I just fell asleep on an armchair last night."

He grinned at her and then let himself fall back into the cushions, pulling his arm away from her. Jade pushed herself up on the bed and took a moment to comb through her long mane of hair with her fingers. As she remembered that she still was only dressed in her underwear, she searched the room for her dress and saw it peeking out behind the little coffee table.

She started climbing over Draco carefully to get out of bed, when he piped up "Where do you think you're going?"

She turned to look at him and said, bemused "Out?"

He grinned mischievously "I don't think so!" And he quickly sat up and engulfed her in his arms, pulling her back in bed with him. It took quite some time until Jade had finally made it out again.

While Draco sat on the edge of the bed, sulking; Jade made her way over to the coffee table. The floor was currently littered with their clothes and Jade bend over to retrieve her dress, which had been caught on the edge of the table. As she stood upright again, she heard a silent cough behind her. She turned to look at Draco, who was wearing a roguish grin.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Oh.. I was just wondering, if you cared to do it again.. You know.. the _bending_." His eyebrows wiggled upwards and he let out a husky laugh.

Had he been checking out her bum? Jade shook her head disapprovingly, but couldn't suppress a grin either as she slipped on her dress. Seeing that Draco still hadn't moved from the spot, she started picking up his clothes; his bow-tie had miraculously made its way up to hang from the chandelier on the wall. Draco had followed her through the room with his eyes and the moment she put his things down next to him, he said "Well, I guess that's the least you can do.."

Jade looked at him quizzically and he went on, while putting on his pants ".. for keeping me up the entire night."

As she went to slip on her ballet flats, she heard him saying "And I'm not referring to any of the hot stuff. I'm referring to your ear-shattering _snoring_ only."

Quickly Jade stood up straight. "I do not snore!"

"..like a troll, you do.."

Jade did the only thing, which came to her mind, and picked up her shoe and threw it at Draco. Her aim never failed her; and the shoe hit the top of Draco's head quite accurately.

Her mouth formed a silent 'O', she had expected him to duck or something. But apparently Draco was quite unfazed and picked up the shoe to inspect it further.

"You have ridiculously tiny feet." Was his final verdict.

Jade made her way towards him and tried to snatch the shoe out of his hands, but he was faster. "Give me that!"

"Well, you threw it at my head in the first place.. I think I'm free to keep it now."

"And _I_ think it might have hit your head a little too hard."

Draco grinned at her and pulled her towards him. He took a few steps back and sat down on the edge of the bed again pulling Jade down with him to straddle his lap.

While one of his hands dug into her hair and pulled her in for a kiss; his other hand travelled down her back and pulled her closer. It travelled down even further. Apparently this boy was feeling quite cheeky today.

"No, Draco!" Jade protested against his lips. "We're supposed to get out of here now. If we wait longer, we're sure to get caught by someone."

She pushed against his chest and stood up from his lap. "And I do have something for you."

Draco's face lit up immediately. "What is it?"

Jade moved over to the side of the couch, where she had deposited her bag last night. She rummaged inside it for a moment and pulled out a neatly wrapped present and a letter, which was attached to it. The box was rather small and wrapped in pretty green paper. Draco had followed her to the couch and looked quite eager to see what she had in her hands.

"It's nothing great; just a little something. Consider it a belated birthday present." She said smiling and placed the little box in his hands. His birthday had been earlier this month on the 5th of June, but they hadn't really gotten to celebrate the day together as he had spent it with his Slytherin friends. She had given him his real present back then, but had thought of _this_ _one_ only until a few days later and she really wanted to give it to him before the start of the summer holidays.

"Can I open it now?" Draco was beaming at her; apparently he quite enjoyed getting presents.

"No, please don't! Open it when you're at home." Draco's smile vanished, but there still was something else glistening in his eyes. Jade added "Don't even think about it, Draco. Actually I put a little spell on it, which you wouldn't enjoy too much.." Now Draco's face fell completely.

"Ah.. That's not fair. Now I can't stop thinking about what might be in there for the whole time!" He looked down at the little box as if he tried to melt the wrapping down by simply staring at it; then he raised it to his ear and gave it a little shake.

Jade chuckled a little; she had put a Silencing Charm on the box beforehand, seeing that her present would probably give itself away a little when shaken.

Now his view turned on the letter. "And what is this? Did you write me a poem?" he smirked at her.

"Not exactly. It's a map of our land. And a description, where you should go so I can find you... You know.. if you want to visit me over the holidays like you said."

Draco nodded and looked back into her eyes; he looked a little sheepish. "I'm kind of feeling bad now. I know your birthday is in a few days, too. If had known you were going to give me something, I would have.."

But Jade just shook her head. "Oh, no worries. Just come back to King's Cross station on the 1st of September unscathed and it will be present enough for me."

Draco took a few steps closer towards her. "Two months is a long time."

Jade nodded, looking up in his grey eyes. "It is indeed."

He lowered his head now and kissed her slowly. Jade replied, suddenly feeling strong emotion inside her. She knew she would be missing him so badly. The last night had been so wonderful and she knew she hadn't felt this happy in a long time. And letting go of him now suddenly seemed so hard.

So she snaked her hands around his neck and intensified the kiss. How she loved to kiss him.

As they broke apart again, Draco cupped her face with his one hand.

"Take care, will you Jade? Don't go running around with Potter again! Please don't get yourself in danger!"

"I'll try not to." she smiled at him. Jade didn't really know what was happening with her, but she suddenly felt so emotional. She looked at him and almost wanted to cry, just because she liked him so much.. and they had to part now.

And then she was so afraid that something might happen to him over the summer. That He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did something to Draco or to his family. Or that something else might happen.. something that would tear them apart.

She felt her throat tighten and quickly buried her head in his chest. She loved how her cheek would always rest directly above his heart and Draco would place his chin upon her head. They were a perfect fit. A single tear rolled down her face. Apparently Draco hadn't noticed and he slung his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head. They stayed in that position for a moment, until the bright light of the day urged them to leave.

"Jade, I.." Draco started, his voice sounded as raspy as ever as he pulled away from her. He looked her deeply in the eyes now. And suddenly Jade felt the urge to tell him something; something of importance. But she didn't.

"I.. I really am going to miss you. You should leave first. I'm going to lock the room behind me."

Jade let her hands slide down his chest and nodded. "I'll see you in the train then." And with a smile she turned around, picked up her bag and left the room without looking back. She knew she couldn't have taken another look at him without running back into his arms.

* * *

Jade made her way through the silent castle. Even though a large clock, she passed on her way, told her that it was eight in the morning, most of the students still slept in. The train didn't leave until 11 o'clock; therefore most of the pupils wanted to enjoy a rather late breakfast. As quietly as she could, she made her way into her dormitory and saw that the other girls still slept. Quickly she grabbed the clothes, she had laid out the night before, and vanished inside the bathroom.

As she returned to her dorm, Katie was awake, sitting in her bed and stretching with her hair sticking in every direction. Leanne still was asleep; the curtains of her bed were drawn close.

"Morning Katie!" Jade smiled at the girl with the hazelnut brown hair. Even though she had shared a room with Katie for ten months, they never had become close friends. They liked each other and bonded over their shared love for playing Quidditch, but they never really talked about personal topics. Katie yawned now and let herself fall back into her cushions.

"Jade! I hadn't even noticed you coming in last night." She sounded very tired. Apparently the end of term celebrations in the Gryffindor tower had lasted well into the night. Katie closed her eyes again. "How much time do we have left until the train leaves?"

"I think we have two hours and then we really need to be outside the castle." Jade told her. Smiling, Katie turned around again, pulling her covers up and murmuring "Well, that means another hour of blissful sleep."

Jade shook her head, smiling. Their room was a mess. Actually she was the only one who had already packed her trunk yesterday and the room still was littered with various belongings of the other two girls. A silent snore came through the curtains of Leanne's bed and Jade was reminded of something.

"Katie? Do I snore?"

Katie's answer was quite muffled, as she mumbled it directly into her cushion. "No.. _You_ don't. You sleep like a dead person. Thank Merlin."

Jade knew it. He had just wanted to tease her. Quietly she made her way out of the room and down to the Common Room. A very welcome sight greeted her: Hermione sat on one of the armchairs, reading a book. That girl wouldn't even stop studying when the term already was over, Jade thought with a smile.

As Jade sat down in front of Hermione, the latter clapped her book shut.

"Soo.. how was it?" Hermione grinned at her; she had been the only one Jade had told about her nightly date with Draco. Actually they had talked quite a lot about Jade's relationship during Hermione's stay at the Hospital Wing. And Hermione had been so bored in there that she had started to anticipate Jade's date as much as if it had been her own.

"Oh.. it was.. " But Jade was lacking words to describe it appropriately. Hermione's grin was still firmly in place.

"Did you..?"

"No!" Jade shook her head. "No, we didn't. Like I told you yesterday, I'm not ready yet. It's something I really don't want to rush.."

"And you shouldn't!" Hermione nodded her head decidedly. "And he didn't pressure you, did he?" She added a little warily.

"Well, I know he would have gone further, if I had let him. To be honest I think he would have slept with me on our first evening together. Boys will be boys. But he never did anything I wasn't comfortable with last night. I know I can trust him in that way."

Hermione smiled. "That's good to hear. I did worry a little about you last night.. All alone.. with _Draco Malfoy_.." Hermione took a moment as if she considered something. "Well, actually I have to say that Malfoy was a lot more bearable this year. The occasional '_Mudblood'_ here and there, granted; but especially in the last few weeks he really was very silent around me."

Jade looked down on the floor, feeling ashamed. She _hated_ that Draco called people that name. And she _hated_ how Hermione said it as if it was a simple banality. It wasn't. It was a very bad word; condescending, discriminating and the disdain behind it could lead to disastrous outcomes.

Jade got up from her chair. "Shall we go down for some breakfast?" Hermione nodded and the two girls made their way to the Great Hall together.

They took their time at the breakfast table, waiting for Harry, Ron and the others to join them. Over at the Slytherin table Draco was sitting with his friends, too. From time to time they would look at each other and although both of them were engaged in conversation, in these moments the clanking and clattering within the Great Hall seemed to fade away and only the two of them existed.

* * *

Soon enough everybody sat in the Hogwarts Express as it made its way back to London through quickly changing landscapes. Jade realized that both Ron and Ginny treated her a lot warmer ever since their journey to the department of Mysteries. She had the feeling that she had somehow proved herself to the two of them by following Harry in there and fighting by his side; and especially by getting Draco's father arrested. But Harry himself still was a little distant and Jade had the bad feeling that it wasn't 'only' Sirius' death, which made Harry brood. The Prophet had written more and more about their trip to the Ministry; all of their names had been printed and the Prophecy had been mentioned as well. Several journalists now claimed Harry to be the 'Chosen One', meaning that he was the one, who had the power to ultimately face You-Know-Who. Jade had spoken with Hermione about it and both of the girls did not really have too much of a doubt about the fact that Harry and You-Know-Who's fates were somehow linked. And maybe Harry knew more about this than he admitted.

Jade was lost in thought for a great part of the journey. Outside of the window high mountains interchanged with thick forests and green hills and as the afternoon drew to a close they finally neared London.

At platform nine and three-quarters a large group of Order members were waiting for their arrival: Mr and Mrs Weasley, Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody and her uncle. Oscar Heywood was a real bear of a man and currently heaving Jade's trunk out of the luggage wagon. He had been the younger brother of Jade's father; but from old photographs Jade knew that her own father had been much slimmer and smaller than his little brother. Oscar had a good-natured face with short brown hair and a strong jaw-line. As he caught sight of Jade his face broke out into a huge grin. He waved his wand a little and Jade's trunk turned tiny enough to be shoved into the pocket of his robes. Then he took a few large steps towards her and bellowed "Oh, come here, little one." And he gave her one of those typical Oscar-hugs, which always hurt her in some way or the other. Either he would hit her head unintentionally, squeeze her too tightly or scratch her cheek with his stubble, when he gave her a little peck. Even though Jade had to admit that she really was very sensitive about the way people touched her; he still was quite the clumsy fellow and Jade always had had the suspicion that it actually was this quality which made him become such a great Potioneer. Oscar was one of the best potion inventers, there were in the industry, and he had made quite a fortune with several recipes. And actually Jade knew for a fact that one of his prized potion recipes had been invented by sheer accident as Oscar had knocked over several of his test tubes.

He patted her head now, messing up her hair. "Oh, you're looking more like your mother by the day, Jade. She would be so proud of you. Going into the Ministry and kicking a few of those Death Eaters' butts. I'm so sorry I missed out on the fun." He let out a booming laugh. This was typical Oscar; there was probably no person on earth, who loved trouble more than he did. Although it did surprise her that he didn't scold her even a little bit. Usually he was much more protective. He lay one arm around her shoulders now and steered her towards the barrier of platform nine and three quarters. "You're quite the Heywood, kid.. quite the Heywood."

* * *

The first few days of the summer holidays were spent rather quickly. Jade had to tell her aunt and uncle everything that had happened that night at the Ministry about a hundred times and the rest of the time was spent with Blaise or with visits at the Burrow. But there was one thing that was aggrieving her a little. Jade's present to Draco actually had been a rather selfish one. It was one of those inventions her uncle had made at a time, when his wife was visiting part of her family in Australia for a month. It was a potion, which should be taken at night before going to bed and would ensure the drinker to meet another person in his 'dream'. Jade had added a little strand of her hair to the bottle, she had given to Draco; and had labelled it so that he knew what it did. If he drank it tonight, they would certainly see each other. Jade thought that it was a pretty clever idea for the two of them two meet as it would not place either of them in danger. Of course meeting someone in a dream was far from the real experience, but it would probably suffice for a while. She had used the potion a few times with Blaise and it really was very dreamlike. The vision of the surroundings was a little blurred and touches felt very different, but one could talk and see each other.

Feeling a little excited, she got into bed early the first night of the holidays. And awoke even earlier the next morning. Nothing had happened. Well, no need to be disappointed just yet; after all it had been just the first night. He probably kept the potion for a later time, when they hadn't seen each other just the other day... Although it had been plenty enough for at least ten nights...

Then another night came and went without anything happening. And another one. Almost a whole week passed and Jade did not dream at all. Why wasn't he using it? She had written clearly what it was, hadn't she? And she was positively sure that it had been the right potion. Had something happened to him? Or had it been taken from him? Or had he just not been thinking of her? There were a thousand possible reasons, why he could have not used it already. And somehow Jade quickly gave up her hopes that she might see him again soon. She knew that nothing serious could have happened, because by now she would have heard. There was much dreadful news in _The Prophet_ these days. A bridge had collapsed and Muggles had died; Amelia Bones, who had been the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had been murdered in her house; an entire Muggle family had been killed and the Death Eaters had torn apart parts of the West Country.

It was not a time that should be wasted with worry about something so insignificant like the fact that a sixteen year old boy didn't drink a potion that would make him dream of his fifteen year old girlfriend. And Jade knew that. So she spend the first week of the holidays playing Quidditch with Ron and Ginny at the Burrow (Harry hadn't arrived yet), talking with Hermione for hours in the gardens of her house or going swimming in a lake nearby with Blaise. She truly enjoyed the time with her friends and all was well until the night of her birthday arrived.


	22. Chapter 22

It was the day before her birthday and Jade went back up to her room after breakfast. The sun was shining brightly today and Jade decided that she would just enjoy the great weather, lay a little outside on her balcony and read a good book. So she changed into one of her bikinis, grabbed one of her favourite novels and pushed open the large doors that led out onto her balcony. As she lay down on the sunlounger and put her hair up in a high bun, she saw the curly, hazelnut brown mane of her aunt, who was working down in the garden.

Lizzy (with full name Elisabeth) had married Oscar at a young age and together they had moved into the house of Jade's parents, which was the old Heywood family estate. It had taken Lizzy many years to redecorate the entire place. Before they had moved in, the furniture had been very antique and she had wanted a clearer, lighter environment for the young family. So she had thrown out the old wooden floors and the thick velvet curtains and bought modern (even some Muggle) furniture, concentrating on flooding the house with light and creating clean, spacious rooms.

Especially their guest house was one of Jade's favourite places. It was a bungalow down in the garden and consisted merely out of a few rooms: a large living room that included a dining table and led out onto a beautiful patio, a cozy bedroom and a luxurious bathroom. Their guest house was frequently used as Oscar did not want to include too many people in the Fidelius Charm, which was placed upon the main building. Nevertheless the guest house was very heavily protected by magic and could only be entered in the company of a Heywood family member.

Jade opened up the book on her lap and quickly lost herself in the world of her novel.

About two or three hours later, Jade heard someone knock on the door of her room. She turned around and looked inside as the door opened and Blaise's face peeked in. He smiled as he saw her and made his way out on her balcony.

"Blimey Jade, a moment longer in the sun and you really start to look like my long lost sister!"

He sat down on the ridge of the balcony and Jade looked down at her legs; he was right, she really tanned very easily.

Blaise went on now. "Your aunt invited my mother and me for some tea and Cauldron Cake. I'm supposed to escort you down there."

"Sure." Jade smiled at him and got up from her lounger. "I just need to dress real quick."

Blaise followed her inside her bedroom and sat down on her couch, while Jade opened up her closet and roamed it for a pretty sundress, she knew was hiding in there.

Now that she was out of the sun again, her skin suddenly felt very hot. Maybe she had gotten slight sunburn, after all. She needed some lotion to calm it down again. She threw the dress over her bed and picked up a little bottle of lotion from her nightstand. Just as she was applying it on her legs, she remembered that there currently was a male guest in her room. And she was standing here, slathering lotion all over her half-naked body.

She froze in her motion and threw a quick look over at Blaise out of the corner of her eyes; but he was currently deeply immersed in her novel and not even as much as taking a little peek at her. Jade smiled. She just loved that Blaise was not attracted by her in the slightest. Often friendships between boys and girls were more complicated. Most of the times one of the two would develop feelings for the other one and sooner or later everything would become weird, like with Ron and Hermione. Everyone knew that the two of them had feelings for each other, but neither of them wanted to acknowledge it.

She couldn't even imagine that she would act this freely around any other boy, she was friends with. Definitely not around Roger, he would probably jump her. And neither around Harry, she just did not know him long enough. But with Blaise it was no problem; somehow he was family. Quickly she threw over her dress and undid her bun. She moved to stand in front of her mirror and braided her hair into a messy plait, which she laid around her shoulder.

As she turned around again, Blaise was already standing in front of the door of her bedroom, holding it open for her. Jade picked up her wand and moved over towards him. As she stood directly in front of him, she halted a moment and just smiled at him. Blaise raised his eyebrows, apparently waiting for her to say something. But then Jade just turned and walked through the door, not seeing the bewildered look Blaise shot after her.

Together they made their way out of the house. Oscar, Lizzy and Mrs Zabini sat around a stone table in the garden, in the shade of a very large parasol, drinking tea and eating cake. As they came nearer, Mrs Zabini got up from her chair gracefully and smiled at Jade.

Mrs Zabini was probably the most beautiful woman Jade had ever seen in her life. She was tall and slender with a fair complexion and shiny, sleek black hair.

Even though Blaise's skin was dark, they looked very much alike; the high cheek bones and the long, slanted eyes; only that that in the face of a woman the eyes seemed much more dangerous.

Blaise had inherited his dark skin tone from his father, a wealthy Parisian wizard who had been Mrs Zabini's fifth husband.

The tale of Mrs Zabini and her seven husbands was very widely known in the Wizarding World and it was probably the only topic, Blaise would never really talk about with Jade. All of them had died under very peculiar circumstances, but somehow Jade never wanted to believe that Mrs Zabini really was responsible for their deaths. It appeared to her that every man, who entered marriage with that woman, simply was doomed. Maybe marrying such a beautiful woman was like tempting one's fate. Nevertheless Jade had to wonder why the seventh husband had even dared to marry her, knowing what had happened to his six predecessors. But then again she knew that there weren't many men, who could withstand her charm and beauty.

Now that she thought about it, she knew that there was only one man, who had ever rejected Mrs Zabini. Blaise had once told her that his mother had initially intended someone else to be her second husband, namely Lucius Malfoy. But somehow he had withstood her allure and had gotten engaged to Narcissa Black instead, probably saving his life with this decision. From the comments Draco had made, it appeared as if his parents shared a real and deep love and maybe love was the only magic, which could defy Mrs Zabini's advances.

Until this day, apart from one son and the last name of the seventh husband, the only thing that had sustained after each marriage was an increasing amount of galleons in her vault at Gringotts. After all, each and every one of her seven husbands had played in the same league as Oscar Heywood or Lucius Malfoy and, needless to say, the Zabinis had become one of the wealthiest families in Europe.

She strode over towards Jade now and bent down to kiss the air next to Jade's cheek, while touching her shoulder lightly.

"Oh, look at you, Jade. You have become such a pretty young woman. We haven't seen each other for so long."

She pulled back to stand in her full height now and smiled, her eyes flicking from Jade towards Blaise and back again.

"Oh, I was so glad when Blaise wrote me that you were talking to each other again. The two of you shouldn't fight."

Jade nodded, smiling. It had always been obvious that Mrs Zabini thought that they were two love birds in disguise, even though Blaise always told her they weren't. Her eyes twinkled now and before she returned to the table, she added under her breath "Although I happen to know that it was entirely _his_ fault.. "

Behind Mrs Zabini's back Jade shot Blaise a pointed look, her eyebrows raised. It really had been his fault, but by now she truly had forgotten all about it. Usually they shared a very harmonious friendship and never clashed or fought, just like it had been the last few months.

"So Jade" Mrs Zabini began after everyone was seated around the table "What are you going to do on your birthday tomorrow? Oscar just told me that you aren't allowed to host a big party. Such a shame.."

Jade nodded; her uncle had indeed insisted that she would only invite five people at the most. He thought it would be too dangerous right now to invite too many guests to their house, especially after everyone knew that Jade was a friend of Harry Potter's.

"Actually I could convince Lizzy to go on a little shopping trip with me. I've been wearing the same clothes for a year now and I'm just dying to buy something new." Jade answered; Mrs Zabini looked quite appalled. Apparently for a woman like her it was utterly unthinkable to go more than a week without shopping.

"Oh, why didn't you tell me, dear? I could have made an appointment at my favourite tailor for you. They really have the finest fabrics and Mrs Logue has an excellent eye."

Jade didn't want to tell her that Lizzy and she were actually aimed for Muggle London the next day. All the long cloaks and dresses bored Jade; somehow Muggle fashion was so much more diverse. She really looked forward to spending a day in between clueless Muggles alone with her aunt.

"Well, speaking of..." Mrs Zabini waved her wand in the air and a wrapped gift appeared out of thin air and floated over towards Jade. "I got a little something for you.. I know it's one day early, but I'm afraid I can't make it tomorrow. Go on.." The woman smiled a dazzling smile at her and nodded encouragingly.

Jade beamed back at her and took the box into her hands. "Oh, thank you so much.. It really wouldn't have been necessary."

Mrs Zabini's taste was so exquisite that Jade looked forward to receiving her gift each year; it always was something very special. This year the box was rather flat and a beautiful white ribbon was wrapped around it. Carefully she opened the present and her mouth fell a little open as she saw what was inside it. It was a garment of some kind and its fabric was simply extraordinary. Jade took it out of the box; it felt silky and smooth to her touch. Now she could see that it was a cape; probably just reaching her mid-thigh and of a faint creamy-ivory colour, but it had an unusual sheen about it. Silver clasps were attached to its front and a hood flowed down at the back.

"Oh.. this is fantastic.. what is it made of?" Jade asked, eyeing the fabric closely. Mrs Zabini looked quite content with Jade's fascination.

"If I remember correctly it has Unicorn hair woven inside the fabric. But this cape really is more than just meets the eye, it has a few interesting properties; some you will find helpful and some I hope you will never even discover... But after I heard what happened inside the Ministry, I wanted to give you something that could provide some protection _and_ look stunning."

"Thank you _so_ much.. Really, I love it." Jade still beamed at Blaise's mother as she passed on the cape to her aunt, who wanted to take a closer look at it.

The afternoon in the garden went over quickly and soon Jade helped her aunt carry the dishes back to their house. She piled them up next to their sink in the kitchen and a moment later Lizzy followed and started doing the wash-up by magic.

"That really was a most generous gift.. " she said while waving her wand. Jade nodded in consent.

"Indeed it was.." she said ".. I wish I could wear it tomorrow. But I guess it would attract too much attention in Muggle London."

"Oh.. now you remind me of something, Jade. You really need to take a look into my closet after we're done here. I need some help with dressing like a Muggle; I have simply no idea what they dress like."

* * *

The next morning Jade awoke early and quickly jumped out of bed and into the shower. It was her birthday today and she was little excited about it. After she stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, she contemplated her outfit for the day. After a moment she settled on a short, light denim skirt and a simple white tank top. It wasn't her most fashionable choice of Muggle attire, but it would certainly be as inconspicuous as possible.

Down at the breakfast table the entire household was awaiting her already and the delicious smell of fresh pancakes lingered in the air. On a little sideboard in the room lay a huge pile of presents, letters and greeting cards that apparently had come this morning by owl. Jade recognized Harry's handwriting on a little card, which was attached to one of the packages; she had written him a letter each day, trying to keep him literal company while he was locked up at his aunt and uncle's.

After a most delicious breakfast, Jade and her aunt approached the fireplace in the drawing room. Oscar was giving some last-minute instructions.

"Please, my dear" he said to his wife "if there is anything even the slightest bit suspicious, apparate back home immediately.. And don't stay in Diagon Alley too long. The more people, who see you, the more this information could get into the wrong hands..."

"Oh, you worry far too much.. " Lizzy gave him a little peck on his lips and threw some floo powder in the fire. Then she stepped in and cried "Gringotts Wizarding Bank!" and was gone in a swirl of green flames.

Jade turned to her uncle and smiled at him. "See you later."

"Take care."

She nodded and waved at him before she stepped into the fire and followed her aunt.

A second later she stood in the enormous Entrance Hall of Gringotts. Her aunt had already moved to stand in front of one of the many counters and was handing over a little bag of galleons.

Jade never really liked being inside the Wizarding Bank. Somehow she didn't trust goblins. In her opinion nobody could be trusted, who was focused this much on money and treasures.. And when it came to goblins and wizards, their relationship really was very icy.. and that was being euphemistic. Their long standing enmity was partly due to the brutal goblin wars and rebellions in the past and partly due to the fact that wizards would never allow any other magical being to carry a wand.

After the goblin had counted all of Lizzy's money, he handed over some peculiar looking pieces of parchment; Jade knew that this was Muggle money.

As they stepped out of the bank and into Diagon Alley, Jade was taken aback a little. Diagon Alley certainly had changed. A few shops were locked up now and the various faces of Death Eaters stared viciously out of 'Wanted' posters that were plastered over the shop windows. Along the sides of the street dubious looking street stalls had popped up. They quickly strode past them and Jade was relieved when they exited the street and entered the Leaky Cauldron.

A moment later they stepped out of the pub and walked along Charing Cross Road in Muggle London; but the dreary feeling, that had taken hold of Jade, did not go away. The sun, which had been shining so brightly over their house this morning, was not reaching the streets of London. A thick mist hung over the entire city and even though it was hot, the weather was not pleasant at all. She felt the excitement about her birthday drop significantly. She wanted to go home again, she felt so uncomfortable out here.. so depressed. And right in that moment Lizzy pulled Jade into a little side alley and took out her wand. In a moment when no Muggle could see them, she scrunched up her eyes and shouted "Expecto Patronum!" A little racoon protruded from the tip of her wand and scuttled around them on the floor. Immediately Jade felt a lot better; as if a weight had been shifted from her shoulders.

"We'll keep it close by." said her aunt. "Muggles can't see it.. The dementors are breeding.. That's the reason for this mist."

During the next few hours Jade and her aunt wandered through all of the high streets of London. If Lizzy hadn't been scaling down each shopping bag by magic every time they left a store, they would probably be collapsing already under the load of shoes, bags, jeans and other clothing items that both she and her niece had found. For lunch they sat down in a small restaurant in Soho and Jade was delighted how delicious Muggles could cook without the help of magic. Afterwards they wandered through the neighbourhood of the restaurant; most of their shopping thirst was stilled by now and they just looked at some of the smaller shops. Finally they stood in front of a very interesting looking place, it was a shop that solely sold lingerie, very exquisite lingerie; a French name was written over the glass window. As Jade and her aunt looked at each other, they both wore an identical impish grin.

They almost spent two hours in the shop and as they stepped out afterwards, both of them were carrying three bags in their hands.

"I think that really busted the budget now. We spent more money on little shreds of French lace than in all of the other shops together." Her aunt said, grinning.

Jade laughed at that. "Yeah, Oscar will probably get a heart attack when he sees that bill."

"Well, if that's the case, I know how I can appease him." Her aunt winked at Jade and wiggled the bags in her hand. Jade smiled at her; Lizzy was much more of a friend to her than of a motherly figure.

* * *

Back at home Jade quickly started with the preparations for her little party. After her uncle had denied her a real birthday party, she had settled on just inviting a few of her friends. Blaise, of course, Hermione and Ron; unfortunately Harry was still with the Muggles, so he couldn't come. So Jade had invited Ginny and had left it at that. She had the feeling that it might get a little awkward tonight. She got along great with the Gryffindors, but she knew Ron and Ginny hated Blaise. But she couldn't _not_ invite him..

It wasn't her favourite birthday scenario, but she still had the hope that everyone would just get along for the night.

It was six o'clock and her guests were supposed to arrive at seven, when Jade was chopping vegetables and cutting bread for the little barbecue she wanted to have tonight. Personally, she didn't like to eat meat, so she was responsible for the salads and trimmings, while Cinny prepared the meat.

Jade was just finishing different sauces and dips, when she heard steps behind her.

"Happy Birthday, kid." She turned around to beam at Blaise's dark face as he approached her. He took her in his arms for a moment and then let go of her again.

"Sixteen already." He said "Although it feels just like yesterday, when I took you on a ride on my Mini Cleansweep."

Jade laughed, she remembered that day. It had been Blaise's sixth birthday and he had gotten the new child version of the Cleansweep Five. She actually had had to bribe him with rare Chocolate Frog Cards to be allowed to take a turn on the broom alone.

"But why are you dressed so muggle-ish?" he asked her, his eyebrows risen.

"Actually I need to change, but I didn't want to leave Cinny all alone with the preparations."

"Well, in that case, you go up in your room and get dressed, while I help down here." He already rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt and took the kitchen knife out of Jade's hand.

"Thanks, Blaise! You're the best!" Quickly she wiped her hands on a towel and walked out of the kitchen and up the staircase that led to her bedroom, taking two steps at a time.

Once inside her bathroom she freshened up, did her hair and changed into a rather fancy dress, for which she hadn't had the occasion to wear yet. As she checked the clock on her bedside table, she was a little startled; it already was ten to seven. She really had to leave now.

As she moved down the corridor, she saw Blaise waiting down at the landing of the staircase. He held out his arm for her as soon as she had reached him, which she took, and together they left the house and made their way through the garden. It had been a beautiful day out here and the sun was standing low now, bathing the garden in golden light. Jade thought she could hear some fairies buzzing in one of the bushes.

They approached the guest house on a little pebbled path and once they were inside, Jade saw that Cinny had already set everything up on the patio. Just as she walked across the room, green flames came bursting to life in the fireplace. A second later Hermione's swirling form rose out of the fire.

"Happy Birthday!" The girl cried and gave Jade a hug. Just as Jade wanted to open her mouth for a response, another person rose out of the flames; it was Ginny, who was quickly bumped into by Ron, who followed closely.

"Oh, for heaven's sake Ron! Can't you ever wait a moment?" Ginny's voice sounded a little unnerved; but Ron only grimaced.

Then they both turned towards Jade and said, more or less simultaneously "Happy Birthday!"

Ginny crossed the room and pulled Jade into a hug. "You look so pretty tonight!" she said in a voice, which sounded much nicer than when talking to her older brother.

Jade was still a little surprised at how cordial Ginny was towards her after the night inside the Ministry. But she beamed back at the redhead now.

"Thanks, Ginny!" she said "I'm so happy the three of you could make it."

After Jade had greeted Ron with a hug, they made their way out on the patio and sat down at the table.

"Oh, this is such a beautiful garden." Hermione exclaimed, as Jade waved her wand to fill up the glasses of her guests with some pumpkin juice.

"Erm.. Jade? You're using magic." It was rather a statement than a question, which came out of Ginny's mouth. She was staring at Jade a little quizzically, as did Hermione and Ron.

"Yes.. Because I was homeschooled all those years the trace has been lifted from our place. It would have been rather inconvenient if every use of underage sorcery had been reported to the Ministry.." Jade explained and Ginny nodded understandingly. Then a moment later a rather mischievous glint appeared in her light brown eyes.

"So I can use magic, too?" she asked.

Jade nodded. She noticed that Blaise lounged on his chair, looking rather bored. It had taken some severe persuasion skills to make him attend her 'little Gryffindor party'. She thought it quite possible that Blaise would go through the entire night without even saying so much as a word to the others. He could be so bloody stubborn at times. As they talked about what a shame it was that Harry was still locked up at his aunt and uncle's, Jade watched Blaise out of the corner of her eyes. He followed their conversation with his eyes, but barely moved apart from that. He looked devilishly handsome as always, but somehow this arrogance, he was showing, annoyed Jade a little. When it was just the two of them they got along great; but when they were in company of her other friends he acted like an arrogant twit..

During the next hour they really had a good time. Ginny had the greatest fun levitating sausages on the barbecue and turning them by magic, just because she could use magic for the first time out of school; Ron was eating more than Jade thought humanly possible and Hermione actually got Blaise to talk a little about a certain newspaper article in the today's Prophet. Jade knew that even though Blaise didn't appreciate the fact that Hermione was muggleborn, he couldn't deny that she was rather clever and interesting to talk to.

"I hope mum's alright. She really was close to tears, before we left. She has to spend the entire night alone with Phlegm." Ginny said as she helped herself to a piece of bread.

"Phlegm?" Jade asked curiously.

Ginny snorted and Hermione answered the question instead. "Bill's new girlfriend. You might remember hearing of her; her name's Fleur Delacour.. The French girl from the Triwizard Tournament."

From the sound of Hermione's voice, even she wasn't too fond of that girl, which was unusual for her.

"Oh wow.. She is part Veela, isn't she?"

"Yes, and she's insufferable..Even mum hates her." Ginny stated, piercing a piece of cucumber in her salad rather fiercely.

"Jealous much?" Blaise asked in his most posh voice.

"Why should I be jealous?" Ginny's stare was so deadly that Jade was pretty sure that Blaise was one of the few people, who wouldn't get all intimidated by it.

"Well, I remember a certain effect the girl seemed to have on males.." Blaise smirked now.

"Yes and of course I would be jealous of any girl, you drool after, Zabini!" Ginny shot back and Blaise's arched eyebrows flew high.

"And if you did, I would certainly forgive you. Quite understandable." Jade shook her head at this and took a sip of her juice; he was being very arrogant.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself! Everyone knows the Greengrass girl was only in it for the money." Ginny's voice sounded fiercer now. Jade shot a quick look over to Hermione, who had pursed her lips. This was a low blow..

"Interesting you mention it.. the money... From what I heard an advantageous marriage would be about the greatest thing that could happen to one of your lot." His voice sounded icy now. Jade heard Ron choke on his food. She felt it was her turn to stop the two of them from jumping down each other's throats.

She spoke silently to her best friend, laying her hand on top of his arm. "Easy, Blaise.. You don't want to be on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey hexes.."

Ginny looked smug now; Jade knew that she had been pointing her wand at Blaise under the table for the entire time. Blaise only nodded curtly and with his free hand he reached for a bottle of wine, which stood on the table. Jade was pretty sure that he himself had persuaded Cinny to bring the alcohol out here. As he poured himself a glass, Jade tentatively stroked the back of his hand with her fingers. Had Ginny's comment on Astoria's 'real' intentions hurt him? His carefree exterior definitely seemed a little strained, Jade could sense that. And he hadn't yet pulled back his hand, which he would've done if her touch didn't comfort him a little. Poor Blaise... She knew that he had provoked Ginny first, but he really was her best friend. If he hurt, she hurt with him..

"And mum doesn't hate her!" Ron spluttered out finally, yanking Jade out of her thoughts; he had just now managed to swallow the huge amount of food, he had shovelled in earlier. And apparently he was still thinking about Fleur.

Ginny just rolled her eyes; she definitely had worked up a temper by now."Well, everybody knows you love Phlegm, don't you Ronniekins?"

Ron's ears started to turn bright red as Hermione shot him a disapproving look.

They stayed outside for quite some time until the fire of the barbecue had almost died out and Jade got a little cold. She had let go of Blaise's hand soon after she had seen him smirk again at one of Ron's comments. As they moved inside with their drinks and Blaise got comfortable on the couch, Ginny asked Jade a question, she had obviously thought about for quite some time.

"You know, Jade.. When Tonks was at our place yesterday, she ..well, she had a little slip-up... She said that she didn't grasp how Sirius had gone, because there was another Animagus in the room, who looked quite like him.. But then she didn't want to tell us who it was.. She said the person had asked to keep it a secret. But we know it couldn't have been Lupin or Moody and she certainly would not keep a secret for one of the Death Eaters..." The ginger girl looked at her with curious eyes.

Jade had only told Hermione about her plans to become an Animagus, but had never really shown her how she transformed.

"Well, yeah.. I lost my wand during battle and I had no other chance.." Jade said, modestly.

"Oh wow." Hermione's eyes were wide now. "You really did it then?"

"Could you show us?" Ginny asked, excitedly. Jade nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating. A moment later she heard Ginny coo. "Oh, you are so cute."

"Wait until you see her fangs.." Blaise deadpanned from over the couch.

"Oh, I love big cats.. Even though I would never dare to come close to you if you weren't you..If you understand what I mean.." Ginny knelt down in front of her now and tickled the spot behind her ears. Jade rubbed her head against her hand and Ginny let out a sound of delight.

"You really look like Bagheera now." Hermione said, earning quizzical looks from the others.

"What is a Bagheera?" Ron asked, but Hermione just shook her head. "Oh, you wouldn't understand.. It's something Muggle.."

Jade could practically hear Blaise's eyes roll in their sockets.

Ginny leaned close now and whispered in her ear. "I think you really should give this bloke a hearty bite.. He's been so arrogant for the entire evening."

Jade looked over her shoulder at Blaise, who eyed them suspiciously. Then she stalked over to him and jumped up on his lap, her paws on his chest. Even though she expected him to shove her away any moment, she leaned in close now and quickly licked him across the face. A second later she landed on the floor, hard.

"That was bloody disgusting!" Blaise wiped his face with his hands, apparently completely grossed out. Jade had turned to her human form again and joined the others in their laughter. "Your tongue feels all raspy.. I need to use the bathroom."

As he stormed from the room, Ginny was still snickering. "I think that was even better than biting him."

* * *

A few hours later Jade had already returned to her room. She was in her bathroom, brushing her teeth, when she suddenly heard a weird buzzing noise. Instantly her eyes widened. Could it be..? As quickly as she could she washed out her mouth and returned to her bedroom. There it lay: her wand, vibrating distinctly.

In the little letter, she had written to Draco before their departure from Hogwarts, she had described how he could reach a certain large oak tree that grew on their lands. Jade had put a special ward on the place soon after she had arrived back at home. And now, for the first time, it had gone off. Somebody was on their land.

"Cinny!" with a _POP_ her house-elf appeared, dressed in a white dressing gown made from a kitchen towel.

"Is everything alright, Miss?"

"Cinny, I need your help. Can you apparate out to the large oak tree, the one Blaise and I built our tree house in, and tell me if you see anyone there? You need to be quick. Can you do that for me?"

The tiny elf nodded and was gone with another faint _POP_. A second later she returned. "Miss, Cinny saw a boy."

"A blond one?" Her elf nodded again.

Jade was only wearing a silken camisole with matching panties, but in her excitement she found no time to get dressed properly right now. She threw over her new cape, which reached her mid-thigh and made her look a lot more dressed than she really was. Quickly she slipped on some shoes and turned to Cinny again.

"Please Cinny, you need to bring the boy to our guest house. Wait a few minutes so that I have the time to arrive there first. Then go and get him. Be so quick that he can't even realize that you are there. And return to the house once you left him with me. "

Jade turned now and left her room. Possibly it was easier to get to the guest house unseen if she turned into her Animagus form again. She transformed in mid-step, snuck through the corridor and then made her way out of the house noiselessly. It was completely dark outside and Jade made her way through the many bushes and hedges of their garden quickly. The moment she arrived in front of the door and morphed back into her human form again, she heard a distinct _POP_ behind her. She turned and there he stood. His blond hair looked rather windswept and gleamed in the light of the moon; he had his broomstick in his hands. The mere sight of him made her stomach clench a little.

She motioned him to follow her into the house, not wanting to spend too much time out of the protection the building provided. After she had shut and locked the door behind her, she waved her wand to light up the room. Now she turned to face him again and in the light she could see that his face looked troubled. A faint shadow had settled under his eyes. He just stared back at her, apparently not quite sure what to say. Jade's excitement quickly turned into trepidation; something was wrong here.. that much was certain.

"Has something happened?" she asked now, leading him further into the room and taking seat on their large white couch. Draco did follow her, but he didn't sit down. He just threw his broom down on the floor and started pacing the room.

"I thought about drinking the potion, but I knew it wouldn't be enough. I.. Jade.." He stood still now and looked at her; there was hurt visible in his eyes. Jade stood up again, sensing that he was about to be the bearer of grave news.

Swiftly he approached her now, never breaking their eye contact. Finally he stood directly in front of her, tall as ever, and slowly he raised his left forearm, the inner side turned upwards.

For a moment Jade felt as if her insides had vanished. She knew what this was supposed to mean and let out a shaky breath.

As she looked up at Draco, she knew that there weren't any words needed. Slowly and carefully she rolled up the sleeve of his soft, charcoal cardigan. And then she felt all air leave her lungs. There on his milky white skin was a dark skull branded in; a snake protruded from its mouth. She stared down at the wretched sign, shaking her head in disbelief.

How was this possible? Why would You-Know-Who make a sixteen year old boy to one of his most trusted servants. Jade knew that not every follower of the Dark Lord was granted the Mark; only those whom he trusted the most, only the inner circle. But Draco was just a boy.. What use could he be of?

"Why?" she asked, holding his arm tenderly in her hands.

"A late birthday present, I guess." His voice sounded raspier than ever. He waited a moment; then he continued. "I have to fill the empty space, my father left. I knew this would happen eventually.. But I always thought I would finish school first... Jade, he has a task for me. He wants me to do something for him."

Suddenly Jade felt a little scared; she had heard his voice shake a little at his last words. "What could you do for him?"

He shook his head. "I can't tell you. I can't tell anyone. He'd murder me.. He'd murder my whole family."

He yanked his arm out of her hands now and turned to pace the room again. He sounded more as if he was talking to himself rather than to Jade now.

"It's ridiculous... It's too difficult... No man in his right mind would expect me to succeed... But I'm not stupid... I know that he is fully aware of this. He just wants me to fail.. He wants me to fail just like my father failed.. So he can finish off my family once and for all. And the only thing I can do is to show him that he underestimated me.. I need to pull through with it. Everything would be like it was before then.. And if I don't, I'll be killed anyway..."

In the past Jade had always expected that the only way that the Malfoys could be in danger was if eventually the Dark Lord was thwarted and the Death Eaters would be rounded up. Somehow it had never even crossed her mind that they would be in danger from their own master.

But what could this task be? Something that was so difficult that Draco saw no chance in succeeding.. But if You-Know-Who really threatened to murder him in case he failed, then Draco simply had to succeed..

"Draco.. if you told me about this task, maybe there was a way I could help you."

He just shook his head. "Oh, believe me.. It is nothing you would want to help me with. It's something you dread...If there ever was a chance that I would fulfil his order, it would be a severe blow on your side. But not to worry.. It's like David against Goliath; I stand no chance."

Jade swallowed; Draco could have used any metaphor to describe the difficulty of his task. But the fact that he chose this one brought a horrible thought to her head.

"Do you have to kill someone?" her voice sounded faint as she asked this. Draco only turned his head a little to the side and threw her a disapproving look out of the corner of his eyes.

Jade shook her head decidedly now and crossed the room in a few strides. "No! No, Draco! You can't! There's no way.. you're no murderer!"

She grabbed the front of his shirt now, feeling the urge to shake him. Her brown eyes looked up at him beseechingly and Draco looked back at her; defeat visible in his eyes.

"So you think I should just give up? Just die myself and let him take the lives of my parents? To save the other person?" He didn't sound reproachful at all, he just sounded sad. He probably knew that this would be the path a person like Harry would chose...or a person like Jade. They would fight the Dark Lord and never try to kill an innocent in order to survive.

He lowered his head now, resting his forehead against Jade's.

"Jade, I can't... I can't flee and I can't fight him.. I can't abandon my parents and leave them to die. I have no chance.. There's no other way."

Somehow Jade felt so confused; she had never expected this to happen. She didn't really know what to tell him now. He would probably never tell her who the person was and it wouldn't change anything either if she knew it. Jade felt terrified and she knew that even though he didn't show it, Draco had to feel the same.

His forehead still rested against hers and his eyes were closed. Slowly Jade raised her hands up from his chest and took his face in her hands. She turned her head to the side slightly and started kissing his lips. It really was the only thing she felt like doing in this moment.

And Draco reacted instantly; he snaked his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss. Jade knew that he had never kissed her like that before; the desperation was apparent in the way he moved his lips against hers and it almost felt as if he clung onto her for dear life. And while she kissed him, Jade suddenly felt the need to show him just how much she really cared about him..

They stood in the middle of the living room for a long time, just kissing each other as if it was for the last time. Finally Jade broke their kiss, looking up at him a little short of breath. Without saying anything, she took his hand in hers and led him from the room and into the bedroom of the house; it was a spacious room with a giant bed, large windows and a stunning fireplace.

Jade turned to face Draco and, with his hand still in hers, walked backwards towards the bed. They exchanged a look and Draco understood what she had in mind. He closed the space between them and cupped her face in his hand. "You're sure?"

As he kissed her tenderly, Jade nodded against his lips. In the back of her mind she probably knew that she might regret doing this one day. But then again she was sure she really loved him and that there would never be a right time if not now..

Still kissing, the two of them lay down on the bed. Draco started caressing every inch of her body, kissing her neck and stroking her hair. And Jade looked up at him above her, so much bigger than her, and she held onto his shoulders as her heart started beating faster. Slowly their clothes were stripped off one another. And the moment Draco removed his shirt and supported himself on his arm again, Jade couldn't help but look at the Dark Mark directly next to her head. And suddenly she got scared.. He was a Death Eater now. This thought brought so much sadness upon her that she felt her eyes become watery. She pulled him close to her and buried her face in his bare chest.

And Draco kissed her unshed tears away and took her fully in his arms.

* * *

As Jade awoke again it was dawn and the first birds started to sing. She lay on Draco's chest; he had slung his arms around her and his head rested on hers. Jade inhaled his scent deeply and closed her eyes again. They had made love two times that night. The first time it had been very slow, very sensuous and just full of emotion. She had been a little scared at first, but Draco had been so tender and caring that soon after the first painful moments, she really had started to enjoy it. The second time had been very heated and fast-paced; and definitely of a shorter duration. Jade smiled as she thought about it. She had never expected to feel this close to another person. But right now she felt as if she had bonded so much with Draco; she really felt as if she belonged to him now. She never wanted to do this with any other man... only with him.

And as she lay in his arms, still completely nude, and traced little circles on his chest, she practically could feel her love for him grow. His face was relaxed now; he almost looked happy in his sleep. And Jade wished so much that it could just stay this way.. That he would get out of all this trouble unscathed.. And for the moment she just told herself to be naive, to just believe that everything would turn out well in the end and enjoy this moment with him. He stirred now, apparently waking up slowly, and pulled her small frame closer towards him. His little movement made Jade smile again; she just loved to be in his arms and be held close.

His eyes flew open now and he smirked at her; then leaned forwards to place a kiss upon her forehead. As he pulled back again, his eyes looked over her shoulder and his brows knitted together.

"Jade.. there's a man outside in your garden."

Quickly Jade sat up, pulling the covers with her, and stared out of the window behind her. A million curse words flew through her mind.

"Draco, that's my uncle! He can't see you here! He'll hex you into pieces!"

Oscar's broad form was still far away, but striding quickly through the grass. Simultaneously Jade and Draco jumped out of bed and searched the floor of the room for their clothes. Jade just threw over her cape as she heard Oscar approach the house on the pebbled little path in front of it. Draco was still struggling with his shoes.

A moment later the two of them ran out of the bedroom and through the living room. As Draco picked up his broom, Jade opened the door to the patio. He went over to her and took her into his arms one last time, kissing her fiercely.

"Happy Birthday, love. I know I'm a little late.." And with those words he kicked off and soared up into the air. A moment later he was just a mere dark spot in the brilliant blue sky; and right then the door behind her banged open.

"Jade! Thank Merlin, there you are! I already searched the entire house for you! What are you doing here?"

He crossed the room and took a peek into the bedroom; then he turned around to face her again.

"Did you sleep here?"

Jade searched her mind for a good excuse to have spent the night at the guest house. But she hadn't settled on a reason yet when Oscar waved his wand in the air; a moment later he held Draco's knitted cardigan in his hands. Jade's eyes widened; her excuse just got a lot more complicated.

"Did Blaise leave this here last night?" Oscar asked now. Jade nodded quickly.

"Did he sleep here? And why are you not wearing any pants, my dear?"

Jade crossed her arms in front of her chest now and looked out of the window, lying to her uncle was definitely not easy for her. "Blaise came back last night after the others left. We thought we'd better move out here so we wouldn't wake you. And stop being this nosy, Oscar!"

Her uncle chuckled now and raised his eyebrows. "But you used protection, didn't you?"

Jade's eyes flew wide open and her cheeks flushed. Quickly she strode across the room and snatched Draco's cardigan out of her uncle's hands. "That's none of your business!"

And she flounced out of the house in a huff.

As Jade walked back through the gardens she realized that her uncle had made an important point. Draco had performed a little spell each time, but Jade knew that those spells weren't always very reliable. It depended greatly on the performance of it and Jade wasn't entirely sure how much practice Draco had had with it before. She definitely needed to take some potion to make a hundred percent sure that she wouldn't be with child in nine months. But her uncle would definitely notice if she took it from his storage room.

As soon as she had made up her way to her bedroom, she opened up her purse and took a few sickles from it.

"Cinny?" she asked into the air and with a _POP_ her houseelf appeared in front of her.

"Miss Jade! You left Cinny very worried last night! Cinny thinks she needs an explanation for all this behaviour!" the little elf gesticulated excitedly and threw her a scolding look.

"I'll explain everything in a moment, Cinny. But first I need to ask you yet another favour. It's urgent.. Would you go to Diagon Alley for me? I need something from the apothecary.. A birth control potion.."

Cinny's eyes almost bulged out of her little head at those words. Quickly she grabbed the sickles out of Jade's open hand and disapparated.

It took her quite some time to return and in the meantime Jade took a shower and got dressed. As she heard the distinct _POP_ behind her again, she turned to see her little elf trembling under a load of little pink flasks.

"Cinny did not know how much to get.. Cinny wanted to make sure."

Quickly Jade knelt down in front of the elf and took the eight bottles out of her arms. She read the label on the back of one; it stated that she needed to take one gulp each time. So did that mean she had to take two? .. Well, three to make sure...

It tasted very sweet and much tastier than Jade had expected. She hid the bottles in her chest of drawers underneath her underwear just in case her uncle was getting nosy again. Then she turned towards her little elf, who was still standing in the room expectantly.

"Alright Cinny, I'm going to tell you.. But you can't tell _anyone_." Jade never mentioned Draco's name as she told the elf their entire story. For a long time Cinny would be the only creature, whom Jade told about what had happened on the night of her birthday.

After Jade had eaten some breakfast in her room, she lay down on her bed again. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night and really was incredibly tired. Draco's cardigan still lay on the other side of her bed and Jade pulled it towards her, unable to resist the temptation to snuggle her face against it and inhale the scent, which still lingered in the fabric. Then she remembered the real reason, why Draco had visited her this night and after a moment tears started spilling out of her deep chocolate coloured eyes. She was deeply in love with a Death Eater. This just couldn't end happily ever after..


	23. Chapter 23

A few days later Blaise came over to visit. Usually they saw each other almost every day during the holidays, but after the little raspy-tongue-meets-precious-face incident Blaise had acted like a real prima donna and told Jade not to expect him 'for at least a month'. But now he lounged under a parasol in the garden and watched how Jade replanted her uncle's Dittany bushes, which had grown too large for their pots, while sipping on some fresh pumpkin juice.

He was obviously still sulking as he started criticizing every little move Jade made; even the way she piled up the fresh earth on the newly potted bushes was depicted by him as 'sloppy' and 'listlessly'.

"You know Blaise, if you can do it so much better, please feel free to help me!" Her voice sounded a little irritated as she stood up and placed her hands on her hips; she realized too late that her hands were full of mud.. as was her shirt now.

"Are we getting a little touchy?" Blaise mocked her, while raising one of his eyebrows.

"I don't know. Are we?" Jade shot back, kneeling down again to finish with the last plant. A moment later Blaise still hadn't answered and Jade turned towards him again. Her voice sounded much softer now. "Alright, I'm sorry I made you attend my birthday. And I'm sorry that you got into a fight with Ginny. And I'm.."

"Don't even mention that girl's name to me." Blaise interrupted her. "I'm still working on clearing my memory from her.."

Jade smiled. "Well, I know she can be harsh. I had to put up with that for a year.. But she's alright once you get to know her better."

"Sure. Not that I was interested in doing that." He mumbled as he stretched on the sun lounger and crossed his arms behind his head.

"So are we friends again?" She walked over to him and held out her hand, which was still completely covered in dirt and mud.

"Yeah.." Blaise eyed her hand dismissively; he had no intention of taking it.

"A _real_ friend would shake my hand now." Jade grinned impishly at him, still holding out her hand. Blaise only glowered at her, unwilling to come near her in this unclean state. Within the next second Jade's grin had turned into a little pout and she started looking at him with her prettiest puppy eyes.

"Oh, come here you!" he said now, leaping up suddenly and pulling her close by her wrist. Jade let out a little squeal of surprise, as he trapped her in his arms and started tickling her mercilessly at her weakest spots, only he knew.

"No! Please!" were the only words she could muster in between fits of hysterical laughter. She probably was the world's most ticklish person. She tried to pry his hands away from her sides, but he was too strong for her right now.

Suddenly he stopped tickling her and his arms fell down limply at his sides; completely out of breath Jade leant against his chest with the side of her face. She just contemplated getting revenge by smearing her dirty hands all over his clean shirt, as she heard someone clearing his throat behind her. She cursed under her breath.

Quickly she turned and saw Oscar standing behind them, looking very .. well, certainly 'not amused'. He threw Blaise a rather dirty look and then turned to look at Jade's work on his Dittany bushes.

"Very well, Jade. I'll get those inside the greenhouse now. Could you please come inside the house once you're finished here? I want to talk to you." And with another pointed look at Blaise, he took out his wand and started levitating the plants over the grass.

"What's up with him?" Blaise asked silently, as he sat down again and took another sip of his pumpkin juice.

"He thinks you're sleeping with me."

Blaise nearly choked to death on his juice. After a horrible coughing fit and a few hard claps on the back by Jade, Blaise shook his head, disbelievingly.

"Where in the name of Merlin's beard does he get that from?" he croaked.

Jade shrugged. "Don't tell me your mother doesn't think the same about us. I have the suspicion the adults have all conspired against us... I mean it would make sense, wouldn't it? The amount of time we spend together.."

They looked at each other, both feeling a little awkward. Then Blaise shrugged, too. "I guess there's something wrong with us."

Jade laughed at this and nodded. "I guess..."

* * *

Half an hour later, she went down to the drawing room to meet up with her uncle, freshly dressed and clean.

"Ah, there you are, Jade." Oscar had just been flipping through the today's _Prophet_, when Jade entered. He sat on the couch and lay the paper down on his knees.

"I wanted to talk to you about something. I know you are in school now and hopefully you learned a lot this year, but somehow I still feel the need to prepare you for what's coming. I never thought that you would end up in combat this quickly. Of course I wouldn't have let you enter the school had I not thought you capable of standing your ground in a duel. But fighting against those Death Eaters.. I think we both agree when I say that you got out of there only with a good dose of luck. Which doesn't mean that I'm any less proud of you.. I am.. Especially about the _catty_ part."

He grinned at her in a most Oscar-ish way. Then he continued. "But I thought we could work on your skills a little. Especially when it comes to duelling.. And I want to teach you the Disillusionment Charm, which can come in incredibly handy. There are people, like Dumbledore himself, who can accomplish it in such perfection that they don't even need an Invisibility Cloak. Of course that isn't our goal. But if you are able to produce a halfway decent Charm, then you really can escape some critical situations."

Jade really had expected Oscar to plan something like this and actually she was grateful. Her duelling skills really did need some improvement. So from that day on they would practice one hour each day. The first thing Oscar taught her was how to produce a more powerful Shield Charm, then they worked on her nonverbal spellwork. And finally he showed her how to incorporate the environment in her duels, how to distract the opponent by letting objects fly at him or solid statues attack him. From time to time they would just stage a duel between the two of them, without using dangerous curses, of course. It actually was quite fun and Jade really noticed how she improved each time, until Oscar destroyed one of Lizzy's most precious plants in the garden and the two of them had to take to their heels and run for it.

The Disillusionment Charm definitely was trickier to produce and Jade tried hard, but the best she could achieve when she practiced it on her own body was making the colour fade slightly from her clothes. There still was a huge amount of work ahead of her.

* * *

Two weeks into the holidays Harry arrived at the Burrow and from that time on Jade spent more time at the Weasley's. She actually got to meet Fleur (or Phlem) Delacour and found her quite amiable; she had a knack for speaking her mind quite frankly, but Jade wasn't annoyed by it as much as Ginny or Hermione were. Another thing she learned was the content of the Prophecy; even though it had smashed within the Ministry, Harry had told her its contents, which he had learned from Dumbledore himself. So Harry really was the Chosen One; he had to finish off You-Know-Who eventually.. or be murdered himself. Even though it was horrible, it didn't shock her as much as she had thought it would. Somehow she had expected something like this.

On the day of Harry's arrival their O.W.L. results arrived, too, and as soon as Jade had returned from the Burrow she opened the little Hogwarts letter, which already lay on top of her desk. Quickly she scanned her grades; she had done rather well. Suddenly she heard the distinct sound of someone flooing in and she jumped a little in surprise as Blaise stepped out of the fireplace. He grinned at her, as he approached, and without a word he snatched the parchment out of her hands.

"Blaise!" she protested, but then she smirked as she saw how the grin froze on his face.

"You are such a little overachiever.. Only 'O's and 'E's.. You're making me feel bad about myself!" he pulled another roll of parchment out of his robes and thrust it into her hands. His own grades were really good; he had even achieved an 'O' in Arithmancy, which Jade had thought simply impossible. As she trailed down further with her eyes she let out a little chuckle.

"Blaise, you received a 'Dreadful' in Care for Magical Creatures.. How did you manage that?"

"Well, what can I say?" he grinned slyly. "I just don't _care for magical creatures_ at all."

Jade rolled her eyes a little, but still smiled. Then Blaise pulled yet another scroll of parchment out of his robes.

"This came by owl this morning, too."

He handed the scroll over and Jade rolled it open; it was invitation to Daphne Greengrass' seventeenth birthday party on the 28th of August, which still was more than a month away.

"It's going to be a really big party from what I heard. That's why she's sending out the invites so early. I wanted to ask if you wanted to accompany me."

Jade contemplated this for a moment. It would be a chance to see Draco a few days earlier, but then again she didn't really think that her Uncle would allow it at all. And she might feel a little uncomfortable being there alone with Blaise and not really knowing any more of the other guests.

"I don't know, Blaise..."

"Yeah, I just wanted to ask. You can still think about it. I just thought you could see your boyfriend again... and it would really piss off Astoria.." he smirked evilly now.

Jade shook her head, absentmindedly. She knew Blaise still was not over her betrayal; he probably would never forgive her. He was much too proud to just look over what had happened.

* * *

The weeks went over in a blur now and in between lessons with her uncle, visits to the Burrow and meet-ups with Blaise, Jade practically had no time to think about Draco too much. She hadn't heard anything from him and as July drove by, she had already accepted the fact that she might not see him until the new term had started. She hadn't told anyone of her friends of his visit on the night of her birthday; somehow it felt too private and too precious to her to talk about it yet.

On Saturday after Harry's sixteen's birthday everybody went to Diagon Alley to buy some new school supplies. Unfortunately for Jade, Oscar didn't want her to join her friends. He thought it was too dangerous if all of them went to Diagon Alley at the same time and told her that he would go alone to get Jade's new books a few days later.

So on Saturday night Jade was just relaxing in her bathtub and reading a book, which hovered in the air above her and turned its pages with a flick of her wand, as she heard someone come in through the floo.

"Blaise? Is that you?" she called out.

"No." A female voice answered. "It's Hermione. Are you in the bathroom?"

"Yes, just give me a moment... Has something happened?" Jade hadn't expected Hermione to come over this late and suddenly she felt slightly alarmed. Maybe something had occurred during their trip to Diagon Alley.

"No, not really." Hermione's voice answered back as Jade climbed out of the tub and threw over her bathrobe. As she entered her bedroom, Hermione still stood in front of the fireplace. The bushy haired girl smiled at her and Jade beckoned her over to the couch, where they sat down.

"I don't usually welcome my guest in a bathrobe." Jade laughed. "But I didn't expect you. How was your trip to Diagon Alley?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. We ran into Malfoy." The mere sound of his name already made Jade feel this distinct sensation in her stomach again. "He was shopping with his mother. First we met him in Madam Malkin's and later we.. well, we followed him into Knockturn Alley under Harry's invisibility cloak."

Jade furrowed her brows as she heard this. What had he been doing in this dodgy neighbourhood? Maybe it had something to do with his task?

"He went to Borgin and Burke's; his mother was nowhere in sight." Hermione went on. "Apparently he wanted Borgin to keep some dark object for him; and he wanted him to repair something. Or more precisely he wanted him to help him repair something, he couldn't bring in there. And then he showed Borgin something, which visibly scared him. I know it all sounds rather wild, but Harry really thinks that we should find out what this was about. You don't have any clue what this could have meant either, have you?"

Jade shook her head; she really didn't. But thinking about Draco walking around alone in Knockturn Alley made her feel a little nauseous. It really was a very dangerous place and nobody should ever trifle with the people, who spend their time there. The only thing, which could protect Draco in this street, was probably the fact that he carried this horrible mark on his arm and suddenly Jade realized what had scared Borgin so much. But she couldn't tell Hermione; she couldn't give Draco away like that.

Hermione laid her arm down upon Jade's now; her face looked slightly worried. "Are you alright, Jade? You look a little sick."

Jade merely shrugged. "I'm just a little afraid, I guess. That something might happen to him."

Hermione nodded understandingly. "Well, you'll see him again in a few weeks and then maybe he will clear up everything. Harry overreacts very quickly sometimes; maybe Malfoy just wanted to get some new prank for his classmates or something."

Hermione squeezed her arm for a moment and then she got up. "I need to return to the Burrow now. Mrs Weasley told me not to stay too long."

Jade followed her friend to the fireplace and hugged her Goodbye.

"Come over tomorrow, will you, Jade? Harry and Ron already planned their next Quidditch match against you and Ginny. She just couldn't resist telling the boys that you girls would show them the ropes any day." She laughed and vanished in a swirl of green flames.

As soon as she had vanished Jade dragged herself to her bed and fell down upon the cushions. Suddenly she really felt sick. She had known that she had avoided thinking about Draco's assignment. She just didn't know if she could deal with these thoughts. She was so terribly afraid that something might happen to him and she had tried to keep herself busy for the whole time so she couldn't think too much about it. But now she lay on her bed and wondered what Draco had really wanted from Borgin. His face popped up in her mind; his pointed chin and his pale blond hair. She really missed him terribly and for a moment she just wished that he would step out of her fireplace and take her in his arms again. With her wand Jade turned off the lights in her room and stared out into the dark night sky. She knew that somewhere in the country, under the same dark sky, Draco was probably lying in his bed now.. and maybe he was thinking of her just in this moment as she was thinking of him. It was a calming thought.

* * *

August flew by as quickly as July and soon the night of Daphne Greengrass birthday party had arrived. Jade had decided not to go, but Blaise still had assured her that he would come over afterwards and give her an account of the night. Jade really hoped that Draco would be there and that Blaise would bring some news of him afterwards. He still hadn't contacted her in any way and Jade started to become a little nervous.

She waited for Blaise that night, flipping through one of her new school books. But as the clock chimed midnight, she decided to get ready for bed. As soon as she had sidled inside her bed, she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and slowly she drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, Jade was vast asleep when something stirred her up. Her fireplace had glowed for the fraction of a moment and the rustling of clothes broke the silence of her room. As she grabbed her wand from her bedside table, she heard how something crashed to the floor.

"Bugger!" It had been Blaise's muffled voice.

"Blaise?" she turned the little lamp on her bedside table on with a tap of her wand and now she saw the boy standing there, tangled in his own robes. A vase, which had been standing on the mantelpiece, was lying in pieces on the floor. It took only a moment for Jade to realize that he had been drinking too much. "What are you doing here?"

He walked over to her bed now, swaying dangerously. "I told you I would come back."

"Yeah, but it's four in the morning."

Blaise just ignored her and sat down on the end of her bed; his eyes weren't really focused. "Blaise, how much have you been drinking?" But he just waved her off with his hand.

"He wasn't there.. Draco, I mean. He had written Daphne that he couldn't make it. Family commitments."

Jade nodded, she guessed one could call it that.

Blaise slurred on now. "But Astoria was there.. That witch.." (Actually Blaise used another word for her, which sounded quite similar) ".. tried to get off with me. But you know what I said? I said I was going home to the only girl I ever loved. You should have seen her face, when I flooed away." He snickered now; then he looked at her with wide eyes and very small pupils. "I meant you.. "

"Sure, Blaise. That's very sweet of you." Jade was pretty sure that Blaise would not remember a word of this conversation the next morning.

"Don't you think you need to go home now and get some sleep?" she asked in a soft voice, feeling very tired herself.

He looked away from her and over to the fireplace. Then he shook his head, looking anxious. "If I floo one more time tonight, I'll throw up.."

Jade sighed and nodded. "Alright, then you'll sleep on my couch."

She stood up now, uncomfortably aware that she was only wearing a very tiny nightgown, and walked over to her closet, where she kept some extra beddings. She prepared her couch, so Blaise wouldn't have it too uncomfortable tonight and, sensing that it might be a good idea, pushed her couch table a little further into the room.

As she turned around to Blaise again, he was still staring at her as if he couldn't really see her. She walked over to him now and held out her hand to pull him up from her bed. It wasn't easy to manoeuvre this 6' 5'' guy over to the couch, but as she had made it, Blaise quickly toppled over.

With a wave of her wand she removed his shoes and his robes and then pulled his legs up on the couch. She tucked him up under the covers and was just turning to leave, when his arm wrapped around her knees.

"Stay.." He mumbled, his eyes closed. And then he pulled her towards him, bringing her off balance and making her fall sideways onto him. "Come cuddle with me. No one ever cuddles with me."

Jade thought he had to be kidding. But now he turned her in his arms like a giant teddy bear and snuggled his head onto her chest. She was sprawled over and underneath him in a very uncomfortable position, but there was no escape. A moment later she heard Blaise's silent snoring.

"You're joking, right?" she asked him, but there was no reaction. She tried to loop her way out of this, but his grip only grew tighter. After a few minutes of struggling, Jade grew to accept that for tonight there was no way that she could make it into her own, comfortable bed again. So she tried to find a somewhat comfortable sleeping position while Blaise continued snoring happily. After she had scooted a little around on the couch, she whispered to him "If you drool on me, I'll kill you." Blaise only smiled in his sleep and bobbed his head a little.

She woke up a few hours later; Blaise had let his death grip slacken off during the night and carefully Jade made it out from under his arm and leg. Her back felt extremely sore due to the weird position, she had slept in. But being the good friend that she was, she walked downstairs and approached their potions cupboard in the kitchen, where her uncle kept a few ordinary household potions, like the usual Pepper Up Trank, and got out a flask, which would probably help Blaise as soon as he woke up.

Then she made some breakfast and carried it up to her bedroom on a tray. As soon as she entered, she heard some silent groans. Smirking, she sat the tray down on her couch table and looked at Blaise expectantly.

"Turn off the lights." He mumbled, hiding his face in his hands.

"Blaise, it's daytime." She whispered back, keeping her voice down in order to stop Blaise's head from exploding all over her white couch.

He only cursed impressively under his breath in response. Then he moaned "I feel like I'm dying right now. I don't even know how I got here."

Jade took the little bottle from her tray and offered it to him. "Here, take a sip of this. It's my uncle's best remedy for cruel hangovers."

Blaise did as he was told and a moment later, he sat up on the couch, massaging his temples. "Merlin, that was a rough night."

Jade nodded at this. "Yeah, you tell me.. My back still hurts as if you raped it."

Blaise raised his eyes up to her now, looking horror-stricken. "What did I do?"

"You _cuddled_ with me. Although it was more of an assault as I had no choice in the matter."

Blaise didn't say anything and only shook his head, which made him flinch immediately and rub his temples again. He really looked more miserable than Jade had ever seen him. Well, at least it would teach him to stay away from firewhiskey for some time.

"I'm feeling mortified right now."

"Maybe you should eat something. I made breakfast."

"Well, that's lovely. But I don't feel like I could stomach anything." He groaned.

Jade pouted a little now. "But I scrambled eggs for you."

Blaise only shook his head carefully. Then Jade grabbed a glass of juice and held it right under his nose. "Pumpkin juice?" she asked brightly.

"The smell alone is making me sick." Blaise answered, wrinkling his nose and batting her hand away.

"Well, then go on and be miserable.. I'm going to have breakfast now." And Jade stood up and carried the tray out on her balcony, where she sat down and enjoyed the beautiful morning. As she peeked inside her room some time later, she could see that Blaise had lain down again, the covers drawn over his head. She smiled a little, shaking her head.

* * *

Blaise flooed home as soon as he had been able to pick himself up from her couch during the afternoon and as Jade was returning up to her room after a late lesson with her uncle, the first thing she saw was a large bouquet of lilies that stood on her couch table. She approached it and discovered a little card tucked in between the flowers; it had Blaise's handwriting upon it.

I'm sorry I was so much trouble last night.

B.

She smiled and took a whiff of the flowers. It really was sweet of him to leave those for her. She turned towards her fireplace and took a little amount of floo powder from a small bowl on the mantelpiece; then she knelt down on the hearthrug and ignited the fire with her wand.

"Blaise Zabini's bedroom" she stated as she threw the glittery powder into the flames. Then she crept closer and pushed her head into the emerald green flames. Only a moment later Blaise's room came into view. It looked very different from hers. All of the furniture looked antique and exquisite and all of the colours were much darker then in her own room. Blaise himself was sitting with his back to her at his desk, apparently reading a scroll of parchment. He turned as he heard the sounds coming from his fireplace.

"Well, if that isn't my favourite head in the flames.." he grinned as he stood up and strolled over.

"Hey, Blaise!" she smiled back at him. "I just wanted to say thank you.. for the flowers."

He nodded now. "Oh no worries, kid."

"Are you alone?" Jade asked as she saw that the door to his room stood open and there was no light in the corridor, leading from it.

"Yeah, mother is on a date" he smirked. "I just wanted to go down and cook some dinner.. Want to come over?"

"Sure." Jade nodded, smiling, and then she put her hand, which was still resting on the floor of her own bedroom, through the fire and held it out to Blaise. The boy took it and swiftly he pulled her through the fire.

As soon as she stood safely in Blaise's room she let go of his hand and brushed some ash from her clothes. "So Blaise.. What are we going to cook?"

"Oh.." he said, sauntering out of the room. "I just thought some pasta.. Italian cuisine.."

Jade followed him out of the room and down to the kitchen. Their house was not as big as her own home, but after all they were only two people (for most of the time at least). As Blaise was checking their storage room for something he could use, Jade leaned against the kitchen counter. She had no idea where Blaise had got it from, but he could cook like a young god. They hadn't cooked together for quite some time as they usually met up at her place, where they could use magic and eat Cinny's delicious meals.

A few minutes later, Jade was chopping tomatoes and Blaise was still bustling around in the kitchen. Then he lit up the stove and heated up a pan; and while he was waiting for it to get the right temperature, he leaned with his hands against the counter, watching Jade from the side.

"You do have rather large eyes. Anybody ever told you that?" he said suddenly.

Jade turned to look at him, a little affronted. "That makes me sound like a toad."

Blaise grinned. "No, they are very pretty." But Jade only cocked one eyebrow at him, looking sceptical. He grinned even broader now.

"They might even be my favourite feature about you.. Well, apart from your hair." He said, his eyes trailing down her shoulders as if he contemplated something.

"Blaise? Have you been drinking again?"

He only let out a deep chuckle and shook his head. "But you have a point there, Jade.. I think we should have a good wine with this meal. Wait a moment, I'll be right back"

He turned around and as he was walking out of the kitchen, Jade called after him "But I don't even like wine and you shouldn't drink again so soon!" But he ignored her and a moment later Jade heard him jogging down the stairs into the basement.

So she turned around and resumed the chopping of vegetables. She would talk Blaise out of drinking alcohol in a minute; he really shouldn't be drinking so much. Just as she was slicing up a red pepper, Blaise deep voice sounded right in her ear. She jumped in surprise and almost cut her finger with the kitchen knife.

"You'll love this one.."

"MERLIN! Blaise! Don't jump me like that! I almost cut off my finger!"

He stood right behind her, smirking and holding an ancient looking bottle of wine to his chest as if it was something very precious. He took a look at her finger and shook his head, his brows raised.

"It still looks pretty intact."

Jade only rolled her eyes now. "And what is this? I thought this afternoon you told me that you wouldn't take a sip of that brew anymore!"

"_Brew_?" he repeated her words, sounding appalled. "This is no 'brew'! And for your information I was talking about firewhiskey at that time. You just wait and see.. This is something very special. One of mother's acquaintances gave it to me. It's the finest wine. I always wanted to keep it for a special occasion."

"Then don't open it tonight. I might not even drink it. I don't like the taste of wine."

Blaise looked a little offended. Obviously he was under the impression that he wanted to share something very special with her and she didn't even acknowledge it.

"Alright, Blaise.. But don't be angry with me if I can't value it the way you do. I don't know anything about good wine."

He smiled at her now and put the bottle up on a high shelf in the kitchen, where nobody could knock it over. Then the two of them continued cooking.

Jade cooked some pasta al dente as Blaise was doing the finishing touches on the sauce. After a minute he scooped some of it on a wooden spoon and held it out for Jade to try.

"Careful, it's hot."

Jade blew the spoon a little before she tried it; it was incredibly delicious. She had no idea how Blaise could do this; there had to be some magic involved.

"Blaise, it's soo good. Honestly." She said and he smiled, looking pleased.

A moment later they were sitting in the dining room of the house. Blaise had poured her a generous glass of the wine and Jade had tried it. It was alright, but she still would have preferred a simple grape juice; she just didn't like the taste of alcohol that much. Of course, that wasn't what she told Blaise; she didn't want to hurt his feelings again. The rest of the meal was simply fantastic and Jade couldn't believe how she had let the whole holiday pass without making Blaise cook for her more often.

"You're leaving for the Weasley's tomorrow, aren't you? What do they call their place again? The dray?" Blaise asked after he was ready with his meal, sneering a little.

"The burrow." Jade answered, finishing up with her own plate. Blaise nodded absentmindedly and as he saw her empty plate, he asked "You want some more? There's still plenty left."

"No thanks, Blaise. I'm already feeling ready to burst. But it was divine.." she said, taking another sip of her wine. "I think I need to get going now. I haven't even told anyone where I went to and I still have to pack. Let's just clean up the mess we made in the kitchen real quickly."

And she stood up and picked up her plate from the table.

"No.." Blaise quickly stood up as well and took the plate from her hands again. "You're my guest. You don't do things like that."

"Thank you." She smiled up at him. "And thanks for wining and dining me."

"My pleasure, kid."

Slowly she walked into the drawing room next door and approached the fireplace. On top of the mantelpiece sat a small, intricately designed casket. Jade remembered how she had once thought that the powdery substance, which was kept inside it, was floo powder and just wanted to scoop out a handful, when Blaise's mother had come to her rescue. The content of that case wasn't floo powder at all, although it should appear as such for the onlooker; it was wolfsbane, a highly toxic substance, which Mrs Zabini kept for unwelcomed guests. After all she was a single mother most of the time and felt the need for some additional protection.

Jade turned towards Blaise now, who just picked up the sugar bowl from the end table. He opened it and set it down on the mantelpiece; Jade knew that it was the real container of the floo powder.

"So we're going to see each other on the train, I guess?" Blaise asked and Jade nodded.

Now he stepped closer towards her and pulled her into a hug. Jade was a little surprised; usually they never hugged when they greeted or said Goodbye to each other. But somehow Blaise had been a little weird for the entire time today. Well, now that she thought about it he had been slightly weird last night, too. She hugged him back around his chest now.

"This was our last summer together." He said, still not letting go of her. "Next year you'll graduate and who knows what happens then.."

Blaise sounded incredibly sad and suddenly Jade realized why he had been so weird those last days. He was afraid that they would be parted sooner or later.

"Blaise, I'm sure we'll have many, many summers together." She said, resting her head against his chest.

He pulled back now, still keeping his arms around her shoulders. "You promise?"

"I promise."

Blaise nodded and then fully let go of her. "Good. Well, have fun with your Gryffindor friends tomorrow. I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express."

Jade smiled at him. "Thanks Blaise. Have a good night." And with those words she took some of the floo powder and stepped into the green fire again and in a swirl of colour Blaise's face vanished.

* * *

As she flooed over to the burrow the next day she found Harry, Ron and Hermione in a heated discussion up in Fred and George's old room. They were still talking about the day they had run into Draco in Diagon Alley. Harry was practically obsessed with finding out what Draco was up to and Jade found it rather hard to keep her mouth shut.

"He's up to something." Harry said finally. "And I think we should take it seriously. His father's a Death Eater and.. "

Jade had the feeling that Harry was very close to discovering Draco's secret now and she watched him as his voice broke off and his eyes were fixed on a spot behind Hermione's shoulder.

A moment later, he slowly said. "He's a Death Eater. He replaced his father as a Death Eater!"

Jade didn't know how to react to this. She would never lie to Harry, but she knew that Draco trusted her. She wouldn't betray him either. After a moment of silence Ron erupted in laughter.

"Malfoy? He's sixteen, Harry! You think You-Know-Who would let Malfoy join?" he asked him.

Harry shot Jade a look now and she just stared blankly back in his green eyes. But she knew in that moment that Harry was sure of it and wouldn't let himself argue out of it.

Now he explained his whole theory; how Draco had yanked his left arm back in Madam Malkin's, when the old lady had tried to roll up his sleeve, and how he had showed Borgin something that scared the man. Jade said nothing, feeling guilty and as if she was betraying her friends. She wondered if the information, she had about Draco, would help the Order, but in the end she didn't know what he was up to either. And it wasn't as if it was a secret that Draco's family was loyal to the Dark Lord. Jade honestly didn't think that it would help Harry if he knew for sure that Draco was a Death Eater and she contented herself with that thought.

As she lay in bed that night, she slowly grew excited about her return to Hogwarts the next day. The last weeks without Draco had left her feeling slightly restless and now that there was only one night until she could finally see his face again, she felt the butterflies in her stomach dance once more. She started to replay the night of her birthday in her mind and she couldn't help but smile; it just had been so wonderful. The only thing that baffled her a little was the fact that he had never used the potion, she had given to him. She really had no idea why he hadn't done it, other than that he was trying to keep it for the time after Hogwarts. Nevertheless it did disappoint her a little as she had just expected to see him at least once more during the summer. But she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and just concentrated on the fact that Draco would be in her life again on the next day. Thank Merlin. She really had missed him so much.


	24. Chapter 24

_Jade_

On the morning of the first of September, Jade awoke early. They would travel to King's Cross with some Ministry cars and a handful of Aurors would be accompanying them. She dressed very nicely that day, only wearing the favourites of her new clothes; she just was terribly excited to see Draco again.

Their journey to King's Cross went over very smoothly and soon enough Jade was dragging her trunk along the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, Harry in tow. Ron and Hermione had already left for the Prefect's compartment and Ginny apparently had a date with her new boyfriend Dean Thomas. As they made their way through the train together, Jade noticed how people were staring shamelessly at Harry; a few even pressed their noses against the windows of their compartments to get a better look at him. As she turned to give him a sympathetic look, there was a uncomfortable expression on his face, he didn't like being the centre of attention at all. Jade admired him for being able to cope with all this; he really was a very strong person.

Somewhere along the train they ran into Luna and Neville and as they finally found an empty compartment, they gratefully hurried inside it. A group of fourth-year girls had followed them for the entire time and Jade knew that all of them were fawning over Harry. A few minutes later one of them actually stepped inside their compartment, introduced herself as Romilda Vane and tried to convince Harry to share a compartment with her and her girlfriends. She intentionally was very rude towards Luna and Neville and Harry rebuffed her coldly; Jade couldn't help smirking.

It took quite some time until Ron and Hermione returned again, bearing some interesting news for Harry: Draco wasn't doing prefect duty, but only sitting in his compartment with his Slytherin friends.

"Not like him, though, is it?" Ron asked, as the sun came out from behind some stormy clouds, bathing their compartment in light. "Why isn't he out there bullying first-years?"

"Dunno." Mumbled Harry. Jade knew that his brain was working at full speed. He was just going to explain his new theory, when the door of the compartment slid open. A breathless third-year girl stepped inside, carrying three rolls of parchment in her hands; all of them were tied with identical violet ribbons.

"I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom, Jade Heywood and Harry P-Potter." She spurted out, turning an impressive shade of red, and left the compartment a second later.

As the three of them rolled their scrolls open, Jade saw that they were lunch invitations by a Professor H.E.F. Slughorn. She looked at her friends, her brow furrowed. The name Slughorn rang a bell, but she didn't really remember who it was.

A moment later Neville, Harry and Jade made their way through the packed corridors. As it was lunch time, most of the students were on lookout for the trolley.. or on a lookout for Harry Potter. Jade still couldn't understand how they would look at Harry without even realizing how rude it was. Jade held her eyes open for Draco as she passed many of the compartments, but she only saw Pansy, Daphne, Crabbe and Goyle; Draco was nowhere in sight. As they moved on, they passed the compartment of the Ravenclaw seventh-years. Roger Davies was standing in front of the door, just buying an impressive amount of sweets from the trolley lady. Cho Chang was standing next to him, but as she caught sight of Harry, she quickly darted into the compartment again. Apparently she was the only one, who didn't want to see the Chosen One right now. Jade never had asked Harry how exactly they had broken up; but she knew that it had ended in a fight.

Roger smiled his usual dazzling smile as he saw her approaching.

"Jade!" he boomed, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "I hope you had a good summer. You certainly look like you got a lot of sun."

Jade knew he was referring to her tan and just smiled back. "Oh, I just stayed home, but it was nice nevertheless."

"Well, I hope so. Where are you headed though?" he asked, still not letting go of her.

"We got those lunch invitations from Professor Slughorn." Jade showed him the scroll of parchment in her hand and Roger nodded, his handsome face showing that he already knew about this.

"Yeah, Marcus got invited as well. If you still have time afterwards, you could come over and join me in my compartment; tell me about your summer a little." He flashed his white teeth at her and gave her arm a little squeeze.

Jade realize once again that she really would like this boy so much more, if he wasn't this pushy. Other than that he always was perfectly amiable. She actually thought it was a nice idea to have a little chat with him afterwards and nodded her head.

"I hope I can make it... But lunch shouldn't really take more than two hours at the most."

"Yeah, if you don't find the time, then don't worry. We'll see each other in every class anyways." He twinkled at her and then added, letting go of her arm. "So please, don't let me hold you up any longer. See you around, Jade. Potter. Longbottom." He curtly nodded at the two boys in greeting and then turned around to enter his compartment again.

As they went further along the corridor, Jade let out a breath.

"You don't like him?" Harry asked her now.

"No, it's not that. He's just so pushy.. Maybe I'm a little weird, too. I don't really like people touching me. I never was like that. I only like to touch people, I'm really intimate with.. And Roger just likes to touch any girl within reach." She laughed.

Harry nodded understandingly. "But if you ever change your mind.. He is the Quidditch Captain of Ravenclaw after all.. Maybe we could develop a new diversion strategy." Harry grinned. Jade knew he had been made Quidditch Captain this year.

"Oh, I think we'll beat them without the need for any shady business this year!" she smiled at him and Harry nodded.

* * *

Finally they reached compartment C and the minute they entered, a round-bellied man with a shiny bald head and a giant moustache jumped up.

"Harry, m'boy!" he said, apparently he had anticipated Harry the most out of his guests. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you two must be Miss Heywood and Mr Longbottom."

They nodded and Jade took a look around the room. Fiery red hair caught her attention and she saw Ginny sitting on a seat, closest to the windows. Then there was a large, wire-haired Gryffindor from her own year, called Cormac McLaggen, and Marcus Belby from Ravenclaw right next to him.

Then a huge grin spread across her face: Blaise was sitting in the corner of the compartment, looking slightly annoyed. She walked right over to him and sat down by his side.

"Thank Merlin, you're here." He whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "This is the compartment from hell."

Jade only grinned at his usual sarcasm and listened as Slughorn introduced everyone.

Actually it really did feel rather awkward as Slughorn interviewed each of them in turn, saving Harry up for the end. Jade noticed during the whole time that McLaggen was positively staring at her and barely took his eyes off her. Each time she looked back at him, she was looking right into his eyes and somehow it baffled her a little. He seemed pretty bold.

As Slughorn turned to Jade, after he was done with Blaise, he smiled at her.

"So you are the young Miss Heywood. The last one in a line of great witches and wizards, I have to say. I was so sorry when I heard about your parents.. A great loss." He made a little pause and offered her a little pie. Politely Jade accepted, but set it down on her lap, afraid of making the same mistake as Marcus Belby, who had nearly choked on his Pheasant mere minutes ago.

"Sadly I never taught your mother, I guess she went to school in Brazil, didn't she? A great beauty as I've heard.. But your father and your uncle always were favourites of mine. A little headstrong I must say.. both of them. And I never had more accidents in my classes than with your uncle. He would blow up fourteen cauldrons in one lesson and at the end he would deliver a potion, so perfect and pristine that I never saw something alike. He had a very chaotic style, but yet genius. I was delighted when I learned that he had made his talent a profession. I really hope to see you in my N.E.W.T. class this year. Seeing a Heywood in action always is such a delight."

Jade smiled back at the man, ignoring the suggestive look McLaggen currently shot her. What was wrong with this guy? "I daresay I will give my best."

"I certainly do hope so, Miss." He chortled and then he finally turned to Harry.

As he introduced Harry like a star in the arena, Jade couldn't help but look at McLaggen. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and Jade felt the sudden urge to vomit. Finally Blaise had realized what was going on and gave McLaggen a deathly stare as he lay his hand protectively on Jade's thigh.

The effect was instantaneous; McLaggen grimaced and then turned to stare at Ginny instead. Such an idiot.

"Thanks Blaise." She leaned over and whispered to him. He gave her knee a little squeeze and removed his hand again. Then his slanting eyes turned on Harry, who was still the centre of attention.

"... and you survived.. " Slughorn was saying ".. and the word was that you must have powers beyond ordinary.."

Jade heard Blaise giving a tiny amused cough, which clearly indicated his scepticism. Instantly an angry voice called out from behind Slughorn.

"Yeah, Zabini, because _you're_ so talented... at posing.. " It was Ginny.

Jade grimaced and just as she was preparing herself for 'Ginny vs. Blaise – round two', Slughorn interrupted, apparently amused. And quickly he steered the conversation back to Harry and the rumours of him being the Chosen One again.

Jade saw Blaise giving Ginny only one contemptuous glance, before he followed the conversation again. And as the afternoon wore on, Slughorn told them many, many anecdotes about pretty much everyone he ever knew. And as he went on and on about his 'Slug Club' at Hogwarts, Jade slowly grew extremely bored. She just wanted to get out of here. But after all it was a professor and she couldn't just leave. She knew that pretty much everyone inside the room was feeling the same way.

And as the sun was already setting, Slughorn finally said "Good gracious, it's getting dark already! I didn't notice that they'd lit the lamps! You'd better go and change into your robes, all of you." And quickly he ushered them out of the compartment, inviting a few of them to come visit him any time.

Jade stepped out right after Blaise and followed him along the corridor. They had almost reached Hogwarts now and Jade still hadn't caught a glimpse of Draco; but as she noticed that Harry and Neville were staying behind, she told Blaise to go on without her and waited for the other two boys.

They talked about Slughorn on their way through the corridor and as they passed the Ravenclaw compartment, Jade quickly caught Roger's eyes and tapped her finger on her wrist, indicating that she hadn't any time left to come inside. Roger pouted in a slightly cute way, making her laugh, which made him laugh in return. Then he waved at her and Jade quickly caught up with Harry and Neville again.

Harry's eyes seemed to be glued to Blaise's back, who was still walking in front of them, and the moment Harry saw Blaise approach a compartment, he suddenly froze.

"Jade.. You need to help me with something." He said, while pulling something out of his bag; it was his Invisibility Cloak. "I need to get into the Slytherin compartment. Will you help me?" he asked.

"Sure, Harry." She answered, even though she knew that Draco would probably be angry at her for doing this.

"Blaise!" she called out in exactly that moment, when Blaise had opened door to the compartment. "Wait a moment."

As she approached her best friend, she felt Harry push past her, hidden underneath his cloak.

Somehow Blaise's face looked a little weird; as if he had seen something nasty. Jade approached him now and quickly saw what it was. There had been a reason why she hadn't been able to see Draco earlier. He was lying flat on his back over a few seats, his eyes closed and his head resting on the lap of none other than Pansy Parkinson. She was stroking his sleek blonde hair with an incredibly self-sufficient look on her pug-like face.

Suddenly Jade felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. What was he doing? She looked back up at Blaise, feeling confused and a little hurt. He was her boyfriend, wasn't he? Why was he lying on another girl's lap, where everyone could see him?

Blaise, who was still outside of the compartment, slammed the door shut again now, but it didn't close completely. Jade knew that Harry's foot was still stuck in between it. Now Blaise tried again; Draco's eyes had opened now, but he still didn't turn to look at her.

Blaise pulled her a little to the side.

"You're alright?"

"Sure.. I'm fine." she answered; her voice was slightly higher than usual, betraying her.

"Shall I talk to him?" He asked her, indignantly. It was clear from the tone of his voice that he wasn't really asking if he should 'talk' to him. It was more of a question whether he should hex him into oblivion for her.

But Jade shook her head. "No, it's alright. It's fine."

And then she turned around and walked away. Of course nothing was fine! She made herself walk down the corridor, even though she wanted nothing more than to curse that ugly pug's face. She knew that it wasn't as if the two of them had really been kissing or anything. And actually after Blaise's drunken night she wasn't one to talk when it came to being physical with good friends.

But Jade knew that Pansy and Draco were definitely different kind of friends than Blaise and she. Pansy obviously fancied Draco and judging by the look on her face a moment ago, she really thought that it meant something. And even though Blaise and Jade had shared a few kisses (well, baby kisses) a hundred million years ago, she somehow had the feeling that Pansy and Draco had done the same.. only not that long ago. She never had had a boyfriend before, so she didn't really know whether it was okay if you laid down on other person's lap and let them caress your head. But she knew that she wouldn't do something like this and she knew that it hurt her.

Jealousy was mixing with hurt inside her as she stormed through the train alone. For a moment she contemplated walking back and joining Roger Davies in his compartment to get some revenge; but that really would be immature and she wouldn't stoop down on that level. But she really wondered what Draco would do if he saw her lying on Roger's lap.

He would probably rip Roger's head off... But suddenly a much more horrible thought came to her mind: Maybe he wouldn't even care at all.

Why was he acting like this? She knew he must have heard her voice when she called Blaise. As he opened his eyes, he hadn't really looked as if he had been sleeping the moment before. So if he had heard her, why hadn't he at least gotten up from that girl's lap? It just was so disrespectful! And Jade didn't know him like that at all. Usually _he_ had always been the one who was after _her_.

Oh no.. Suddenly Jade felt the hurt overtake her.. Was he acting like that because she had slept with him? Had he lost interest because she had slept with him too early? She knew some boys were like this.. She felt the strong urge to knock her head into the wall next to her. Was it all her fault that he was acting like this now?

Maybe sleeping with him had only been this amazing experience for her. Maybe she was the only one who really felt as if they had bonded, as if they belonged together now. Maybe it was only her who had thought they did it out of love.

Merlin, no! If this was true she would simply die. Losing her virginity had been such a huge deal for her; and now the boy didn't even look at her, but lay on the lap of another girl. She knew she was overreacting in a way; but she just was so hurt. He just was this one guy for her, she trusted him with her heart; he held it in his hands and if he wanted to, he could hurt her badly.

As she finally stepped into her own compartment again, Hermione, Ron, Luna and Neville were all waiting for her with curious expressions on their faces.

"Where did Harry go?" Ron asked.

"Malfoy's compartment." Jade said, quickly bending over to pull her trunk out from under a seat and opening it. She pulled her school robes out and changed them for her cape. She knew Hermione's eyes bore into her back as Ron started complaining that Harry was slowly becoming obsessed with Malfoy. A moment later she slouched down in her own seat and stared out of the window, avoiding Hermione's eye. She would tell her what she had seen later in the Common Room; maybe Hermione would know what to think of this.

* * *

_Draco_

Draco was standing on platform 9 ¾ alone. The engine of the train was letting off steam as the last students climbed on. Draco let out a breath; it was the first time in his life that he didn't want to set his foot onto the train. If he had thought last year's summer had been bad, he knew now that it had been a bloody walk in the park compared to what he went through this time. And so he was standing there now, really setting off to do the Dark Lord's bidding, to go and try to kill his own headmaster. Even in his head it sounded ridiculous.

His left forearm burned, it did that all the time, as he heaved his trunk onto the train.

"Draco, there you are!" said a high female voice. Pansy was standing in the corridor of the train and approached him now, throwing her arms around his neck. She wore some heavy perfume.

"I was already scared that you'd miss the train. Come on, let's find a compartment." She told him.

Draco didn't even answer. Her high voice only made his head hurt more. A little further down the corridor he met Crabbe and Goyle. He just nodded in greeting and led the group of them to a compartment in the middle of the train. He peeked inside and saw a few Hufflepuff third years. Well, that would be easy. He slid open the door and sneered at them.

"Get out." He spat and entered the compartment, hoisting his trunk up on the luggage rack.

He didn't even need Crabbe and Goyle to threaten the Hufflepuffs more, as they quickly stood up, scrambled their stuff together and fled from the compartment.

Draco sat down and propped his feet up on the seat in front of him. Pansy sidled up right beside him.

"How was your summer, Draco?" she asked.

"Great." He drawled. He had no intention of talking right now, the movement only made his head ache more. He felt sick.

Then the doors opened again and Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini entered. They greeted everyone and Daphne said cheerfully "It was such a shame that you couldn't come to my party, Draco. We really had a blast. Well, except for Pansy." She giggled.

"Don't remind me." Pansy said, crossly. "I blame it on the alcohol."

Draco concluded from her words that she had apparently slept with yet another loser that night. Pansy really was becoming an easy lay.

"But from what I heard," Pansy carried on now, suddenly sounding smug. "I wasn't the only one who made a late night booty call.. Astoria told me you flooed over to Jade Heywood that night, Blaise. Finally got lucky with her?"

Pansy smirked suggestively at Blaise, who only looked slightly disgusted.

"Not every girl is as desperate as you are, Pansy." He told her coldly, shutting her up.

After a moment of silence Pansy turned towards Draco once more, laying her hand down on top of his thigh.

"Draco, I think we need to go to the Prefects' compartment now. We're already late as usual.."

Draco shook his head; he had no intention of going there. He wasn't going to bother about school anymore. Why should he? Either way this would probably be his last year at Hogwarts and he hadn't got the time to patrol corridors right now, nor the nerve.

"You go without me, Pansy." He told her curtly. She looked a little surprised, but then she stood up and left the compartment.

Draco stared out of the windows as the train drove out of Kings Cross' station, remembering what Pansy had talked about a minute earlier. How had his idiotic friends managed to bring up the one topic, he didn't want to think about, in merely two minutes?

He had thought so much about her those last weeks. He hadn't been able to stop it. Ever since that one night with her, his mind had practically been obsessed with remembering every little move she had made and every touch they had shared. It hadn't been the first time that he had slept with a girl, but it had been the first time he had been in love while doing it. And that just made all the difference.

It had been the first time that Draco realized how he was putting the needs of another person above his own. And actually he had never had to work this hard for it before. The moment she had lain all bare in front of him, he had thought he wouldn't last two minutes. It had taken quite some time to regain control again and from that moment on it had been unbelievable. That was the only word, which could describe this night with her.

But somehow everything had become so much more complicated. As the summer holidays had worn on, he realized more and more what his task really meant. He knew that it was his responsibility to get his family out of this mess and every time he thought of Jade, he felt unable to. He just wanted to give up and be with her. Maybe even run away with her when she was leaving school at the end of this term. He wanted to just drop this whole Death Eater crap and let the Dark Lord go to hell. He hated everything. He wanted to cut this thing out of his skin and burn it.

But of course he couldn't. The Dark Lord would know in an instant and then his mother would be the first to endure torture and death. He didn't know what to do; he just wanted to break down every minute of the day.

Draco let out a breath. His brain throbbed; there was such a mess inside him that he didn't even know how to feel or what to think anymore. And then suddenly he had a thought. His aunt Bellatrix had taught him Occlumency this summer and he had been rather accomplished at shutting his mind off against intruders. And if he could shut his mind off to others, then maybe he could shut it off to himself?

Maybe he could bury all these emotions somewhere deep inside his mind and just feel nothing?

Draco shut his eyes and tried to blend out the chattering of Daphne, who was holding a monologue as Crabbe and Goyle weren't really capable of joining any decent conversation and Blaise apparently had decided not to grant anyone the honours of his words anymore. Concentrating hard, Draco cleared his mind off everything. No thoughts, no feelings.. just like he had practiced it with his aunt.

And then he felt nothing. There was only his mind, sharp and clear. It was pure bliss. He felt Blaise's eyes upon him now.

A moment later the door slid open once more, a girl stood there, looking extremely afraid.

"I am to deliver this to B-Blaise Zabini." She stuttered, holding out a scroll of parchment tied with a violet ribbon to the boy. After Blaise had taken it, she stumbled out of the compartment backwards and closed the door again.

Slowly Blaise rolled open the parchment and scanned it with his slanted eyes. Then a smirk crept up in his face and he read out loud.

"Mr Zabini,

I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C.

Sincerely, Professor H.E.F. Slughorn"

Malfoy had heard of this Professor Slughorn; he had been the potions teacher of his father. But if he was back at the school.. that meant that Snape would be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts? Interesting..

Slughorn always had had a reputation for picking out students, he thought were exceptional in a way. Draco wondered why he had invited Blaise and somehow couldn't bite down the sudden jealousy he felt at this. Why wasn't he invited? He was the one, who had much greater things ahead of him than Blaise..

"Well, see you later then." Blaise said as he sauntered out of the compartment. Draco stared out of the window again. He didn't want to think about Slughorn now. He wanted to think of nothing again. So he cleared his mind once more and watched how the landscape drove by quickly.

But the longer he stared out and blocked his emotions off, the worse his headache got. Shutting off his mind was an exhausting thing to do; but Draco hoped it would get better in time. After all, this was his only chance; he knew he couldn't let himself be thwarted by his own fear or feelings. He just needed to do this.. for his family.

Suddenly he yanked back in surprise as someone leaned into him. Pansy had returned to their compartment, without him even noticing it, and was leaning over, watching his face with a worried expression.

"Are you alright, Draco? You look a little ill." She asked, her voice sounding earnest.

"Just got a headache." He replied.

"Maybe you should lie down for a moment." She suggested and scooted back on the row of seats to make more place for him.

Draco watched how she waved at him, beckoning him to lie down. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Draco had had incredible trouble sleeping during the last weeks. His mind found no rest and he would toss and turn in his bed for hours. Feeling the exhaustion finally overtake him, he moved and lay down across the seats with his head on Pansy's lap.

A moment later Pansy started to stroke the hair off his forehead and somehow it felt good; his head was just feeling as if it exploded any minute and as her fingertips massaged his scalp lightly it eased the pain a little.

He let out a little sigh, his eyes still closed. He didn't really fall asleep, but he stayed in this position for quite some time, just relaxing.

It felt like hours later, when Draco heard the door open very distantly. He awoke from his slight doze and opened his eyes; Pansy was still stroking his hair and Draco could see Blaise standing in front of the compartment. The tall boy just wanted to enter when a voice called him back.

Draco's insides lurched as he heard her. For a moment he wanted to sit up straight and slap Pansy's hand away; if she would see him like this, she would probably be hurt. Panic rose up inside him; he didn't want to lose her. But then he bit it all down. He shut himself off again and formed a decision. He knew it was his only option; the only way he could pull through with this. He had no strength to deal with this any other way.

So he closed his eyes again, let Pansy continue and felt nothing.


	25. Chapter 25

As the Hogwarts Express drove into Hogsmeade station, Harry still hadn't turned up. Ron and Hermione became visibly nervous as they stepped out into the corridor and looked for their friend.

"Do you reckon he's already left without us?" Ron asked the others. Hermione looked sceptical, but as she couldn't see Harry either in the mass of students, who were streaming out of the train and out onto the platform, she merely shrugged.

"Maybe.. Maybe he followed Malfoy further." She answered.

Jade had a very bad feeling about this. She decided that she would pass the Slytherin compartment on her way out to look for Harry and meet the others out on the platform. She walked down the long corridor of the train, which was getting emptier by the minute. As she finally reached the right carriage, she could see how a door slid open. Draco stepped out of it, closing the compartment behind him, and left the train quickly without looking in her direction once. With quick strides Jade approached the compartment, he had just exited, but as she peered through the glass windows, she could see that it was empty. But maybe Harry was still in there, hidden beneath his cloak. She opened the door. "Harry?"

But no answer came. Harry wasn't there anymore. This was weird. Where had he gone?

She followed Draco out of the train now and as she walked along the platform, she caught Ron's gaze, who was standing tall above the other students and looking out for her; she shook her head. He looked positively worried now. She joined him and Hermione in the queue in front of the carriages and saw Draco standing a little further at the front.

He was talking to his friends, sneering and gesticulating. Then he stomped his foot on the floor as if he was demonstrating something. The other Slytherins broke out in raucous laughter. Whatever brought them so much amusement couldn't be a good thing. Jade looked out for Blaise, but apparently he had already left in a carriage.

The bad feeling in her stomach only intensified as they entered the Great Hall for the start of term feast; Harry was still nowhere in sight. And the fact that he was missing even pushed the thoughts of her boyfriend lying on another girls' lap back in her mind. She just hoped that nothing had happened to him.

Hermione still was much calmer. "Don't worry so much about Harry, Jade. He can look out for himself and it certainly isn't the first time that he wandered off to somewhere under his Invisibility Cloak. He'll turn up in a minute, I'm sure."

And just as Ron was helping himself to the third round of chicken legs and chips, Hermione was proved to be right. The doors of the Great Hall opened and Harry and Professor Snape (Jade wondered what he had to do with this) were revealed. Very quickly Harry strode through the hall and squeezed himself in between Ron and Hermione. His face was smeared with blood.

"Harry! Merlin, what happened to you?" Jade exclaimed, but the boy only shook his head with a dark expression on his face. "Not now."

So it wasn't until half an hour later that Harry told Ron and Jade the entire story as Hermione sprinted off to show the first-years the way up to the Gryffindor Tower. Harry told them how Draco had noticed him up in the luggage rack, had petrified him and stomped on his face, breaking his nose. It was Tonks, who had found Harry hidden beneath his own Invisibility Cloak.

As Harry went on to tell Ron what he had heard Malfoy say before, Jade zoned out a little. Somehow she felt nauseous. This really wasn't how she had imagined the first evening back at school. She had been looking forward to this day for such a long time and now she couldn't help but feel extremely disappointed and hurt. As they reached the Gryffindor Common Room, Jade quickly left for bed. She had thought about confiding her thoughts in Hermione, but then again she didn't really feel like talking about it right now.

So she lay in her four poster bed and gazed up at the ceiling; she couldn't sleep. Images and thoughts were swirling inside her head and a sense of trepidation claimed her heart; she had the feeling that Draco and her were at a really bad place right now.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast the ceiling of the Great Hall was a bright blue; it was going to be a beautiful day. Although a part of Jade had preferred rain clouds and thunder. She glanced over to the Slytherin table a few times during breakfast, but just like the evening before Draco didn't turn to look at her once. By now she really started to feel offended; first he was lying on Pansy Pug-Face's lap and now he was ignoring her. If he really had lost his interest in her, couldn't he even make the effort to tell her so? And if he hadn't, then why hadn't he approached her last night to apologize?

Now the stupid cow herself walked up to the Slytherin table, sliding up on the bench next to Draco. Jade could swear that she had just latched her hand onto his thigh. She threw her spoon down in her cereal furiously, splattering the table with milk. She really was getting angry _and_ had lost her appetite by now.

After Professor McGonagall had handed out their timetables, Jade quickly stood up to leave. After a fleeting gaze on the parchment, she saw that her first class today would be Transfiguration and so she made her way up to the classroom on fourth floor alone. She couldn't help but glower at every student, who passed her way; she really was in a bad mood today.

The classroom was already open when she reached it and so she entered the room and sat down near the front. A few minutes later a group of Ravenclaws entered. And feeling slightly aggressive, Jade sneered at Marietta Edgecombe, who had tried to hide her 'SNEAK'-pimple formation under a heavy load of makeup. The moment she realized how mean she really was right now, she started feeling guilty. What was wrong with her?

She opened up her book in an attempt to distract her mind from vile thoughts as the chair behind her was pulled back.

"You mind if I take that seat?" It was Roger, who was beaming down at her. Suddenly Jade felt the urge to say something to wipe that smile off his handsome face. This wasn't a day to smile for no apparent reason. But then she just shrugged and turned back to the book.

"Are you alright?" he whispered as he had sat down beside her.

"I'm fine."

"Sure? You sound a little stroppy."

Jade only glared at him and Roger quickly scooted back in his seat, rising up his hands in defeat.

"Alright, alright. I'll leave you alone.. Merlin."

He stood up to leave her table and a fresh wave guilt washed over her. Roger hadn't done anything to deserve her anger. Quickly her hand reached out and took hold of his arm.

"Roger, wait. I'm sorry. I just feel like shit today. Please, stay with me." She smiled at him, although it felt as if the smile was breaking her face.

He looked a little sceptical for a moment; then he sat down again. "But spare me any more of those death stares. Really, a basilisk has nothing on you."

"I'm sorry." Jade looked guiltily down at the floor. Roger chuckled now and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Oh no worries, love."

Professor McGonagall chose exactly this moment to enter and shot Roger a rather pointed look as she began the lesson. The N.E.W.T. standard of Transfiguration was very advanced and quickly all other thoughts were pushed from Jade's mind in an attempt to understand what the professor was currently saying. But as soon as she had stepped out into the hallway again, the gloomy feeling rose up inside her once more.

* * *

She was walking down the corridor with Roger, who was just pulling out his timetable. "So we have a free period right now and then double Potions down with the new professor."

Jade groaned silently; she really wasn't looking forward to seeing Professor Slughorn again so soon; especially not today.

"Lunch wasn't that great, I take it?" asked Roger, who had heard her silent moaning.

"It was pure torture." She answered darkly.

"I really was sad that you didn't come over afterwards." He told her, pouting once more.

"I promise I would much rather have spent the afternoon with you than in that compartment." Jade said.

"That's sweet of you." He grinned at her a little mockingly. "Fancy a walk out on the grounds? The weather looks great today and it might pick up your mood a little."

Jade nodded and followed Roger out of the castle. The sun was shining brightly by now and Jade could see a small class of third-years down at Hagrid's hut.

"So Roger, how was your summer?"

"A little dull, I have to say. You remember our conversation down at the lake? I really stayed true to what I said back then. I didn't meet one girl for the entire summer. I just don't want to waste any more time on girls, I can barely stand for more than one week.. at the most."

"Well, I think that's a very clever decision." She grinned half-heartedly at him. "You're sparing a lot of girls quite some heartache."

He chuckled at her words. "You think I'm that bad?"

"Maybe." She let out a small laugh, her eyes trailing over the grounds of the castle.

"That hurts." He said, clutching at his heart. "But it's not as if my own heart has never been broken."

Over at the Greenhouses Jade could see a group of students making their way up to the castle. A certain blond boy was leading the front.

Quickly Jade averted her gaze and looked back at Roger. "Really? Who broke your heart?"

"Oh, I can't remember her name..." Roger grinned at her; apparently he was making jokes about himself now.

Jade only rolled her eyes and but it made her laugh. They were strolling down towards the lake, in a similar direction to where Draco was currently coming from. But Jade could see that he was looking determinedly in any direction, but in hers. Frustration was building up inside her and she couldn't help it; she suddenly felt the need to catch his attention .. or to make him jealous. Treat him with his own medicine.

So she turned at Roger and gave him her prettiest smile. She was a little surprised at how quickly it worked as Roger was coming closer now.

"Stand still for a moment." He told her and turned on the spot to face her. Then he raised his arm and gently picked something up from her face; it was a single lash.

"Make a wish." he whispered, holding the lash out on his palm.

So Jade took a step closer towards him, leaning in a little further than really necessary and put her hand on his biceps to steady herself. She blew the lash into the air, closing her eyes. And as she opened them again, Draco stood several yards apart from them, rooted to the spot. Their eyes met for the fraction of a moment and Jade thought she had seen him twitch a little, but then he turned again and walked away. Jade had no idea what to make of this.

Roger had turned, too, and was looking at the retreating back of the Slytherin with furrowed brows.

"You're still friends with this guy?" he asked her.

"I don't know." Jade answered truthfully, feeling hurt and angry at the same time.

"I heard what he did to Potter. Really sick. I mean you really have to hate someone to be able to stump onto his face until it cracks... or just be a very sick bastard."

Roger's words dripped down Jade's back like cold ice. It really was sick what Draco had done. The rest of the sixth-years were making up their way towards the castle now and Jade caught sight of the only person, who she felt could really make her smile again.

Blaise was quickly jogging over the grass towards them. His legs were so long that he had reached her within a few seconds.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked as soon as he stood in front of her, his breathing surprisingly even and calm. Jade nodded and followed Blaise a little closer towards the lake.

"I talked to him last night." He finally said in his usual smooth voice. "He told me he just had had a headache and that it wasn't any of my business. I said that I would make it my business if he didn't stop messing around with you." Blaise's eyes glistened dangerously. Now they trailed over Jade's shoulder and Blaise nodded into Roger's direction.

"But what are you doing here? Trying to reciprocate?"

"No, Roger is just a friend." She said, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"No, Jade. _I'm_ just a friend. _I _don't try to get in your pants." He smirked.

"Blaise! Stop being nasty!"

"_He_ is nasty! Honestly, I think he got more notches on his belt than my entire dormitory together."

"That is either very impressive of Roger, or very sad for you. And actually he didn't even go on one date over the summer."

"And now you get a medal for that?" Blaise still was smirking at her. Jade only rolled her eyes. Sometimes they really were like an old bickering couple.

"Blaise, you really shouldn't be concerned about Roger. I'm much more concerned about Draco."

"_You_ shouldn't be concerned at all, kid. The ferret should be. If he hurts you, I'll break his bones. And I'll break Davies' bones, too, while I'm at it."

The viciousness of Blaise's voice somehow made her laugh. "Stop spitting out death threats, Blaise, and get going. You're already late for your next class."

Blaise turned to look up at a huge clock, which hang at the side of one of the towers.

"You have a point there." He said. "Although I don't think _old Sluggy_ will mind. See you at dinner, Jade." And after another spiteful glance at Roger, he turned around and made his way up to the castle.

Jade walked back to Roger, who was lounging in the grass by now. He grinned at her. "This bloke really hates my guts, doesn't he?"

Jade shrugged, she couldn't really deny it.

"You know, Jade, this weather really is perfect for a quick round of Quidditch. You're up for it?"

The thought of flying immediately brought a smile to her face. But they were only two people. And they had no permission to enter the Quidditch pitch. The first problem seemed to be solved instantly as a group of Ravenclaw boys stepped out of the castle in that moment. Quickly Roger shot up from his place on the ground, waving at them to come over. Now there was only one problem left.

"But Roger, how are we going to get on the pitch?"

"Baby" he said, turning towards her with a very cocky grin on his face. He tapped the golden badge on his chest lightly. "I'm a Captain."

* * *

Playing Quidditch with the Ravenclaws was exactly what Jade needed. They had a great time and she could let off some of the steam, which had built up inside her. Initially the boys had played a little softer than usual, seeing that there was a girl in their midst, but as Jade continued to play rather dirty, the game quickly became much more heated. Jade was playing against Roger, who was a very talented Chaser himself, and they fouled each other so much, that an onlooker really wouldn't think they were friends at all. But it just was a lot of fun.

Just as she was performing the umpteenth penalty goal, somewhere in the castle a large bell chimed, remembering them all of the time. Roger cursed under his breath. They already were ten minutes late for their next class. Quickly they raced towards the ground, locked their brooms in the closets and ran up towards the castle. The other boys weren't in their potions class, so Roger and Jade were alone as they chased each other down to the dungeons. Clutching her side and completely out of breath, Jade finally entered the classroom behind Roger.

The air was already full of various smells and Jade saw a few large, bubbling cauldrons, which were set up inside the room. Professor Slughorn himself was sitting on his desk; apparently they had just interrupted him in his speech.

"Ah, Miss Heywood, there you are. I already wondered whether you had gone amiss."

"I'm sorry, Professor. We.." but Slughorn interrupted her with a lazy wave of his arm.

"Not to worry, not to worry. Just take your seats, get out your scales and your potions kits and take a look around you. I had initially prepared those potions for my sixth-years, but I thought I could make a great project about them with you. I already told your classmates, which potions you have in front of you. But I think, Miss Heywood, you must certainly be able to tell so yourself." He smiled at her encouragingly and Jade turned to look at the potion nearest to them. It was colourless and didn't emit any smell as the others did; it looked very much like simple water. Jade nodded, remembering how Oscar had shown her this before.

"This is Veritaserum, sir. It makes you tell the truth, no matter what."

"Very good, my dear. Go on."

The next potion looked like bubbling mud, Jade recognized it instantly. "This must be Polyjuice Potion. You can change your appearance if you take it. And this.." she turned to look at the next cauldron, which was full of a golden, splashing substance ".. is Felix Felicis." She opened her eyes in awe. Felix Felicis was incredibly difficult to brew and it could make you lucky.

There was only one cauldron left now; it was the one that filled the classroom with a rather delicious scent. Jade inhaled deeply once more and somehow she could smell different things at once. She could smell the air of an early summer morning, when only the birds were up already and a gorgeous day was about to begin. Then she could smell the scent, which lingered in the kitchen, whenever Cinny made her pancakes. And then there was something else.. something deeper and much more masculine... Her cheeks flushed pink as she remembered a certain person.

She heard Slughorn's bemused chuckle. "This must be Amortentia, professor."

"Quite right, quite right. Take ten points for Gryffindor, Miss Heywood, for your excellent knowledge. So as I was saying before, these potions are more difficult to brew than anything you have attempted before. Some of them will take weeks until they are ready and others will be ruined if you even so much as stir them a little too slowly. Each of you will pick one of the four and I will give you until the beginning of the Christmas Holidays to deliver it. I arranged for a little room outside this classroom, so you can look after your potions any time, the password is 'Felix Felicis'; my personal favourite out of all of these." He added with a twinkle.

"So now, open up your copies of _Advanced Potion-Making_ and pick the right potion for you. I'll give you a few minutes to decide."

Quickly Jade pondered her options; if she really was going to brew one of them, then maybe she should choose the one, which would be most useful. So Amortentia was definitely out of question; it did smell nice.. but it was useless, in her opinion. Polyjuice Potion could always be helpful, just as Veritaserum. But the one, which was the most exceptional, was definitely Felix Felicis. Unfortunately Jade knew that it was the most difficult out of all of them... which did indeed catch her by her ambition a little.

"I think I'll go for Amortentia." Roger said next to her, opening up his book at the chapter about the potion.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Jade grinned. "I think I'll try Felix."

Roger looked impressed. "Good luck then. But you do know that it will take up a lot of your time, do you?"

Jade simply nodded. She just could use some extra luck at the moment.

* * *

_A/N: Just wanted to make a quick shout out to all the lovely people, who have been leaving me their reviews. Especially xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, TwinPhoenixOfDark and beba78. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me some lines :)_


	26. Chapter 26

The week went on without any major incidents and by now Jade was utterly convinced that Draco was avoiding her. Somehow she even had the suspicion that he had gotten her timetable from somewhere; he seemed to be constantly knowing where she was and never turned up there himself. Aside from breakfast, she hadn't seen him once. She didn't even know if he went to dinner or lunch anymore, but if he did, he always went at a different time. On Wednesday evening she had spoken to Hermione about it. But she couldn't bring herself to tell her friend that she had slept with Draco; somehow it made matters so much worse. And even Hermione couldn't deny that there was something fishy about this whole situation and urged Jade to approach him. And even though Jade knew that she had to talk to him, she was afraid of doing so. Somehow she just knew that he was going to break up with her and she couldn't stand the thought of it.

So it wasn't until Friday evening that she got to talk to him. She was walking down a corridor on third floor, when she turned a corner and suddenly saw the back of a familiar blond head in front of her. Her stomach clenched at the sight. He was walking swiftly through the hallway; his steps echoed all the way back to her. Jade didn't want to shout all the way through the corridor, so she took out her wand and flicked it; instantly a suit of armour to Draco's side sprang into life, making him jump in surprise. It blocked his path now and gesticulated in Jade's direction. Draco turned and Jade approached him. Her heart sped up quickly and she could feel the blood rushing through her veins; she had no idea what was going to happen now.

As she stood right in front of him, she slowly raised her eyes up to his face. She couldn't help but feel something tug at her insides. She had been so close to him only a few weeks ago; he had made love to her more passionately than Jade could ever have imagined. And now they stood in front of each other like strangers. She wanted to touch him, to pull him close to her, to make him act like he was supposed to act. But this distance between them scared her. She awaited some kind of reaction, but nothing came. He looked strangely expressionless and somehow it seemed as if he didn't even intend to utter a single word to her; neither did he meet her eyes.

"So you're not even going to talk to me anymore?" she finally asked; she cursed her own voice for sounding so hurt. They were completely alone in the corridor and somehow Jade had hoped deep inside that his behaviour would change once they were on their own. But still he didn't even really look at her. He pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers now; his body looked tense.

She inclined her head, watching him. "Are you alright?"

Did he look annoyed now? His eyes flicked through the corridor and came to rest on a painting of three arguing warlocks.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" he said coldly. He hadn't used that arrogant tone when speaking to her for a long time. And for a moment she just stood there, utterly confused. Then Draco made his way over to the side of the corridor and opened a door to an empty classroom. He motioned for her to enter and then closed the door behind them. For a moment hope flared up inside her again, but then he walked past her and leaned against the wall next to the black board; his hands inside his pockets again.

"Draco, could you please tell me what's going on? First the thing in the train, then you avoid me for a week..."

Draco sighed and gazed out of the window of the classroom. It was silent for a moment; then he began to speak. "I don't think we should keep seeing each other."

Jade needed a moment to process his words. So he really was breaking up with her? "Why?"

He just shook his head, still not meeting her eyes. "I just don't think it is a good idea anymore."

"Not a good idea?" She repeated his words. Of course the two of them together had never been a good idea, but until now he had never really seemed to care too much about it. Could it really be the fact that she had given herself up to him too quickly? Or was it something else?

Suddenly the image of Draco lying in Pansy's lap crept up in her mind. Was Pansy a better idea? She bit down her sudden jealousy. Pansy couldn't be the reason for his behaviour. And there still was another option: Maybe he had gotten scared after all. Maybe he was afraid that this task, he was supposed to do, would break them up sooner or later?

"Draco, please be honest with me." Her voice was much softer as she took a step towards him and saw his body go rigid. "I promise I will understand if you tell me the truth.."

She noticed how he inhaled a breath. Finally he looked into her eyes and Jade was taken aback. Suddenly she was remembered of something different.. or someone. She felt as if she was staring into the eyes of Lucius Malfoy again, cold and grey.. somehow empty.

"Jade, this is the truth. I don't want to see you anymore. You're making everything more difficult for me than it already is. I need to concentrate on what lies ahead of me right now. I can't really bother.."

It was like a slap in the face for Jade as those words flowed out of his mouth. He couldn't bother with her? Could he sound any more indifferent?

She couldn't stand looking into those eyes and her gaze fell on the floor. His cold words had hurt her. She had always thought that his feelings for her were real and that the two of them shared something special.. that maybe he even loved her. But if that had been the case, he wouldn't talk like that. He wouldn't leave her like that.

"And you couldn't think of this _before_ you slept with me, could you?" Jade hissed at him, anger flaring up inside her once more. This one night had meant incredibly much to her; she never would have done it, had she not thought that they would stay together for as long as they could. And now he was ruining everything. Her insides were shattering into pieces.

He shrugged now. He _shrugged_! Her breathing sped up.. how could he? The way he acted tore a hole into her heart.

"I thought.. it meant something.. " Jade said, struggling to keep her voice even. "I thought we.. I thought it was..." She couldn't bring the one word out of her mouth. But then she pulled herself together. "I thought you loved me."

He looked at the floor now, shaking his head. "I guess you were wrong..."

How could he do this to her? Jade's throat felt so painfully constricted that she knew, she couldn't bring out a word anymore. For a moment she considered taking out her wand and hexing him badly. But that would mean she had to stay in this room with him even a moment longer. She backed away from him now and fled through the door.

* * *

_Blaise_

Blaise was on his way to the Slytherin Common Room after a night of studying in the library; he had been alone there and now his head was so full of the different variations of Potion brewing that he needed to take a break. He strolled around a corner, when he heard voices. Sounded like .. that definitely was Jade! He hadn't seen her all day, but he recognized her voice now, coming through a closed door on his right. After a moment he heard a second voice.. Malfoy! He backed away in a little niche, which was usually occupied by a suit of armour. Even though he hadn't been able to make out any words, the tone of Malfoy's voice didn't appeal to him. Now there was silence.

A few moments later Jade rushed passed him, her face looked like she was in a state of shock and she didn't notice him as she ran down the corridor. After a little moment, when Jade probably thought nobody would hear her, she let out a heart-wrenching sob. That son of a.. witch! Blaise felt cold fury well up inside him.

For a moment he contemplated joining Draco in the classroom and hexing him into bloody pieces, but then he thought better of it. He knew that Flitwick's office was just around the corner and he would probably hear them if they started duelling.

Judging from the sound, Draco still hadn't moved and Blaise took the opportunity to get away from his hiding spot without the other boy noticing it. He needed to make his way down to the dungeons quicker than Draco; he would wait for him there and in the meantime make up his mind what he was going to do with that bastard.

The corridors were currently full of students, who either came from the Great Hall or were still headed there for a late supper. Blaise made his way through the crowds smoothly and came to a halt somewhere down in the dungeons to sit on a stone bench that was set in a little alcove in the wall. He now knew what he was going to do with Malfoy. Although he wanted nothing more than to see him endure excruciating pain, Blaise knew that he had to restrain himself and not get carried away by his wrath. But on the other side he just could not let Draco get away with that, it just was his duty as a friend.. as a brother-in-spirit somehow.. to make that ugly ferret pay.

He sat on the cold stone bench for quite some time until he heard steps coming down the hallway again; this time it was Draco. He had an ice-cold look on his face, as if his soul had been drained from him, and didn't notice Blaise as he passed him. So Blaise stood up and the rustling noise startled Draco, who spun around on his heel quickly.

Somehow there was no need for words. Blaise approached Draco swiftly, like a snake that had seen some defenceless prey. Draco did not back away, but stood his ground; apparently he knew that this was coming for him and didn't even flinch as Blaise stroke out and punched him very hard in the face. The impact of the blow sent Draco flying back against the stone wall of the corridor and he hit the back of his head hard. Blood splattered out of his mouth and nose, which looked nauseatingly askew, and he slid down the stone wall, clutching at it for some support. Blaise heard some younger pupils yell out in shock behind him.

Without another word, he pushed the smaller students out of his way and made his way up to the Entrance Hall again. He shook out his hand; something was definitely broken in it. Resorting to physical violence was definitely not classy and Blaise did not intend to repeat it any time soon, but somehow it was much more satisfying to punch someone in the face and let out his anger directly, than hitting a spell at them. He looked down at his bruised knuckles; well, it definitely had been worth it. Jade could possibly fix them again in a minute, being very adept at healing. When they were younger and still played outside in the gardens Jade had always healed his little bruises and abrasions. She had even mended a broken toe of his after her monster of a horse had stomped on his foot. The only question right now was: Where was she?

He stood in the Entrance Hall and considered his options. Outside it was raining heavily; it was one of those last warm summer rains, like a monsoon. And somehow his instinct told him that she was out there somewhere, probably trying to clear her head.

He tapped his robes with his wand, thinking 'Impervius' and walked out into the rain, trying to figure out where she might be. The light of the day had not vanished yet completely and Blaise looked over towards the lake, but did not see Jade there. He then made his way over to the gardens in front of the Greenhouses, thinking it was the only other place where she might have gone. And as he made his way through the hedges and underneath arcs of roses he saw two tiny lights dancing at the other side of the garden. Blaise smiled, remembering how Jade would always summon fairies in times where she felt sad or lonely. They always cheered her up a little.

He approached her and the corners of his mouth instantly sank again. Pure misery was etched upon Jade's face and her eyes were full of hurt. She sat on a little stone bench, completely soaked and hunched over, and Blaise couldn't distinguish between the rain and her own tears on her face, but he knew she was crying. It hurt his heart to see her like that, even though deep inside he had always known that it would eventually come to this. Falling in love with a Malfoy was just bound to result in a broken heart. His poor little girl..

He sat next to her on the stone bench and put his arm around her shoulders. Instantly she buried her head in his chest and let out heartbreaking little sobs.

Blaise knew that he could do nothing right now to cheer her up besides just being there for her. And as he held the crying girl in his arm, he wondered if he should have protected her from this pain. He always had feared that one day Draco would act like the bastard he really was again, but he never had tried to argue Jade out of her relationship with him. One reason for that was that he did not want to appear as if he was jealous, like back on the day where they got into the fight. But another reason was that Blaise knew that Jade had to make her own experiences and that she would learn and grow stronger from them. Trying to protect her had its limits and he could not shield her from life to keep her away from harm. And even though right now she was devastated and crying her eyes out, he knew that the day would come where she would laugh again. This thought made him feel a little less sad.

He cast a drying spell over her, followed by an Impervius Charm. After all the git was not worth to catch a cold because of him.

And after Jade had shed more tears than Blaise thought humanly possible, she turned her slightly reddish eyes to look up at him. They hadn't even said one word to another yet. He pulled up his hand to wipe a tear away, which was still clinging onto her cheek, and realized that his knuckles were swollen by now and moving his hand hurt rather acutely. Obviously Jade had noticed now, too, that something was amiss with his hand and she took it into hers, examining it a little closer.

"Blaise.. What did you do?" her voice sounded a little faint. Blaise knew that she probably had already added two and two together and he just shrugged. And Jade grabbed her wand, which lay beside her, and waved it over Blaise's hand in some rather complicated little circles and figures, muttering an incantation under her breath. The pain immediately stopped and the swelling went back down; gratefully he pulled his hand back out of hers.

She stilled looked miserable and Blaise sighed. He always knew that only fools fell in love. He had never let himself really fall into any deeper feeling with Astoria and thank Merlin for that! He would probably have ended sitting here and crying his eyes out just like Jade. Most people just weren't to be trusted, he knew that. And currently the number of people, whom he trusted, could be counted on one hand. His mother, Jade, .. actually that was it! But he knew that those two would never let him down.

And right now he did not need to 'be in love', did he? He had been in 'love' only once; it had been the time where he had braided the little daisies into the ring and given it to Jade. Back then he had intended it to be their engagement ring and he had searched for hours for the perfect daisies in his mother's garden. He had to smile when he thought back of those carefree times. When had everything suddenly stopped being so easy and had turned into this? And why couldn't it just be like it always had been again?

He looked back at the girl beside him. Even though she was probably feeling like dragon dung right now, she looked incredibly beautiful. And suddenly there were a hundred questions, feelings and thoughts shooting through his mind. Why wasn't it like he had always thought it would be: The two of them together? And did he just love her as a friend or was he secretly in love with her? And did they ever really get a chance if not now? Did he even want that chance? Was there any lust in his feelings for her? Could he even kiss her or would it just feel awkward? Was he willing to try?

And he suddenly got his answer back more clearly than he had expected: No! A simple 'No'. They were best friends and she was a huge part of his life. But they had grown up together, he never lusted after her. He could appreciate her beauty and liked to hug her close to him at times; he could imagine kissing her on the lips, but the idea of sleeping with her grossed him out. Not as if she was unattractive. But who would want to sleep with their sister?

Blaise let out a sigh. The turmoil in his head had ebbed back down as quickly as it had come up. And he felt like himself again.

Jade was still watching the two fairies, who were dancing in the light of dawn. The rain pattered down on the grass and its smell lingered in the fresh, humid air. Blaise pulled Jade closer to his side and planted a kiss on her hair, without feeling awkward.

She snuffled a little and turned towards him. "You know, Blaise. If you ever left me, I think I would just crawl into some hole and die."

"Don't say something like that, Jade. And don't you worry, I'm not going anywhere." And now Jade threw her arms around his waist and pulled him close tightly, very tightly. She almost crushed him. Well not really, she was much too weak for that, but she really gave her best. Chuckling, Blaise added "Well, unless you strangle me to death, of course."

His little girl smiled at him now. Ah, she smiled again! And then she let go of him and, with his arm still around her shoulders, they sat for quite some time on the stone bench, listening to the rain and watching the fairies in a companionable silence.


	27. Chapter 27

After Blaise had brought Jade up to the Gryffindor Tower that night, she entered the Common Room and looked out for Hermione. When she didn't catch any sight of her, she went up directly to the dormitory of the sixth-year girls; her friend was lying on her bed, a book on her lap. She looked up as Jade entered and snapped the book close.

"He broke up with me." Jade's voice was a little higher than usual and somehow she felt strangely lost as those words left her mouth.

"Oh Jade.." Hermione swung her legs around the edge of the bed as Jade made her way over and let herself fall down next to her friend. She had spilled so many tears tonight in Blaise's arms that it almost felt impossible to cry anymore. But still she buried her face in her hands. She had never expected it to hurt _this_ much. It was as if her heart had been ripped from her chest. It just hurt so badly. Tentatively Hermione started to stroke her back and Jade couldn't bite down the sobs anymore.

"He didn't even care about it. He just said he didn't want to see me anymore.. completely indifferent. I don't know why he acts like this. I don't understand.. He practically made me chase him down to break up with me. If I hadn't approached him, he probably had never talked to me again." She wiped the tears out of her eyes and looked up at her friend. Her hurt was reflected in Hermione's eyes as the girl kept on stroking her back.

"I'm so sorry, Jade." She whispered.

Jade felt like there had been a giant hole blasted inside her. And even though she was terribly hurt by Draco's cold behaviour, she couldn't help the fact that she was missing him already. She wanted to crawl back into his arms and the thought that she never would be there again pained her soul. She still was in love with him and she still wanted to be with him. But she would never be again.

He had been her boyfriend and now, just like that, he wasn't anymore. They weren't even friends anymore. He wouldn't be there for her, when she needed him. He just was gone from her life and didn't even seem to care about it.

She couldn't handle the pain; she just wasn't strong enough. And so she let the other girl hold her and realized that without her friends, she would probably never get through this. They sat on Hermione's bed until Lavender and Parvati came in; Jade didn't want them to know what had happened. So she went to her own dormitory, got ready for bed and then opened up her trunk, searching for something. Finally she found it: a little flask of Oscar's Dreamless Sleep Potion; quickly Jade took a sip and fell back onto the covers of her bed. It only took a moment and she was vast asleep.

* * *

On Saturday morning Jade stayed in bed. She felt exhausted from all the crying and the possibility of running into _him_ in the school was simply unbearable. So after Katie and Leanne had left, Jade drew the curtains close around the windows and returned to her bed. Her thoughts immediately fell back to him.

She could feel the pain inside her chest as if someone tore at her heart. She had never thought that anyone could put her through this much heartache, but somehow she felt as if something inside her was dying a slow, painful death. She still couldn't really understand why this had happened. How could a person change so much in such a small time? And for which reason had he _really_ broken up with her?

Quite some time later the door to her dormitory opened and Hermione stepped inside.

"Jade? You missed breakfast. I brought you something." She said softly as she made her way over to Jade's bed and set down a croissant and some juice on her bedside table.

"I'm not hungry." Her voice was sounding faint.

"But still you need to eat something." Hermione said encouragingly, but Jade merely shrugged.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

Jade closed her eyes; somehow she wanted Hermione to stay and leave at the same time. She wanted to be alone, yet she didn't want to feel lonely. She shrugged again.

"Oh, don't bother." She said now. The word 'bother' somehow hurt her; Draco didn't _bother_ either. "I know you got a lot to do with homework and everything."

Hermione nodded; Jade knew that the girl understood.

"I'll check on you later. Call me if you need anything. And please do eat something."

Hermione left the room and Jade sank back low in her cushions once more. Everything around her reminded her of him, even the stupid words that left her mouth. She turned around in her bed as the tears started rolling down her cheeks once more.

Hours later the door opened again. Jade turned and saw Hermione, realizing with a pang of guilt that she hadn't touched the breakfast, her friend had brought her. She hadn't found the energy to eat. During all of those hours she had only managed to pick herself up from her bed for a quick shower and a change of clothes.

"It's dinner time, Jade. Are you coming down with us?"

Jade just shook her head and Hermione nodded, looking sad.

And then Jade was left alone again. She stared up at the ceiling of her four-poster bed. She didn't want to be like this, but yet she couldn't help it. She couldn't walk around the school as if nothing had happened. She just felt awful and she knew that she had to accept all this pain in a way. It had to stop one day, hadn't it?

Half an hour later the door opened once more. Hermione came over and sat down on the bed next to her.

"He wasn't at dinner, either." She said after a moment of silence.

Jade nodded. "He hasn't been for the entire week." Again there was silence.

"Blaise asked for you... Is it true that he punched him?"

Jade nodded again, feeling fond of her friend. "Where did you hear that?"

"Some scared first-years told each other during dinner."

"Yeah, he did that."

"Well, that's kind of .. _nice_.. of him." Hermione said and Jade didn't have to look at her to know that she was smiling. Then Jade let out a sigh.

"Hermione.. do you think I'll ever feel like myself again?"

She couldn't help but ask this question. She just felt so broken inside. She felt as if nothing could make it right again. As if _he_ had broken her. Shattered her beyond mending

"Of course, Jade. It just takes time." Her friend smiled kindly.

They sat on Jade's bed for hours; sometimes in silence, sometimes in conversation. And Jade was very thankful that Hermione was there for her.

* * *

At about ten o'clock the door swung open again; it was Ginny.

"Hey guys!" she smiled a sympathetic smile at Jade. "Zabini is down in front of the portrait. He's waiting for you, Jade. Shall I tell him that you're coming?"

Jade nodded; even though she wanted to stay in her bed, she couldn't leave Blaise standing there. "I just need a moment."

And then she stood up from her bed. She was wearing Muggle clothes today; a fitted T-shirt and some low-cut sweat pants. It wasn't very elegant, but it definitely was comfy. Then she turned to look in the mirror. She looked just as awful on the outside as she felt on the inside. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was red, quite in an ugly contrast to her unusual pale face. She sighed, tugging at her hair, which was a mess, too. Quickly she pulled over a hooded Muggle sweater and did her hair up in a very messy bun. Then she slipped on a pair of sneakers and pocketed her wand.

The moment Jade passed through the portrait hole she could see Ginny and Blaise still standing outside together, talking to each other in hushed voices.

"... hasn't been out of bed the whole day." Ginny was saying. "She doesn't want to eat.. We're really concerned about her."

As Blaise's dark eyes left Ginny's face and turned to look at Jade, the redhead quickly stopped talking and looked a little sheepish as she darted back into the Common Room quickly.

"Hey kid."

"Hey Blaise." Somehow talking to people felt awkward today.

"I thought I would pick you up for dinner. The Weaselette just told me you didn't eat all day." He looked at her in a scolding manner.

"I'm not hungry." Jade said, feeling the need to defend herself. "And it's way beyond curfew."

"Do I look like I care about curfew?" Blaise asked her mockingly, arching one of his brows.

"_And_ I'm not even dressed properly.. _And_ I look like shit."

"Yeah, so you'd better follow me quickly now, before anyone sees me with you." He smirked. But Jade wasn't in the mood for his jokes and let her shoulders drop even further. "Ooh, don't be in such a huff. You know you always look pretty. Even today."

Jade knew it was a mercy compliment. "Blaise, I really.."

"No ifs and buts, Jade. You're coming with me." And then he took hold of her arm and simply pulled her with him. As silently as they could and without speaking they made their way through the dark, deserted corridors of the castle. Jade followed Blaise down to the kitchen and as soon as they entered a little house-elf hopped forwards.

Blaise simply asked the elf if he could use their kitchen for a while and of course the elf obliged. So Blaise was going to cook for her again. Jade couldn't help but smile; it really was sweet of him to do this for her. So she sat down at the edge of one of the large house tables, while Blaise sprang into action a few feet to her side.

"You know," he spoke to her over his shoulder. "I would have come earlier, but I had detention."

"Detention?" she asked, curiously.

"Yeah. A few of the first-years, who saw me punching the git, reported me to McGonagall. And the fact that the idiot had to be brought to the Hospital Wing didn't exactly ease her temper."

"He needed to go to the Hospital Wing? I thought you only punched him once?" her voice shot a little higher now.

"I did." he said, not without a hint of pride in his voice. "Broken nose, shattered cheekbone and he lost three teeth." He let out a vicious laugh now as he started chopping a few vegetables. He was clearly pleased with himself.

Jade's eyes had grown a little wider. How had he managed to shatter so much with one simple blow? But then her eyes trailed down to his hands. They were pretty large.. and Draco's face was rather delicate for a guy. But he had lost teeth? Merlin, Blaise could throw a mean punch!

"And I really would have liked to break his body some more." Blaise added now, evilly. "But I can tell you, McGonagall has some convincing arguments. For the last three hours I polished every trophy in the trophy room.. _without_ magic. Bloody slave work, I tell you."

Then he went back to work again and Jade watched his tall back as he cooked some delicious smelling things up for her.

"Jade, I really think it's a shame that you don't eat meat. All those boring vegetables.. Don't know how you can do this..."

Jade didn't really listen as Blaise talked; somehow her thoughts had once again gone astray.

"Blaise..." she interrupted his ramble. "How is he?"

It was a question that had been on her mind for the entire day. As Blaise didn't answer right away, she added. "I mean you have seen him so much more during this week than I have. Really, how is he?"

Blaise sighed and spoke with his back still turned towards her. "I don't know. He acts completely strange. He doesn't attend any meals any more, skips every class with Professor Snape and actually he wanders off quite a lot during the rest of the time. I have no idea where he is going. Sometimes he takes Crabbe and Goyle with him, too. And I don't think that he is meeting someone. Every time he returns, he looks even gloomier. And he has become a real insomniac."

Blaise kept on cooking as he told her this. "Every night he lies down on his bed, then tosses and turns around for hours, stands up again, walks around the dormitory, goes down to the Common Room, comes up again, lies down once more. Completely restless and it drives me nuts!

"And when he finally falls asleep he's constantly mumbling and moaning. The first night I heard him I actually thought he had a girl in there. But it's just him. Then last night it was the first time that I actually understood a word he had been saying.."

Now Blaise turned back towards Jade, a worried expression on his face. "... it was your name, Jade. He was _sobbing_ your name... It really creeped me out. And he awoke from it, too. Cast a Silencing Charm around his bed. So if he sleeps at all, I cannot hear a thing anymore."

This news somehow made Jade's heart miss a beat. He had sobbed her name during sleep? So their break-up couldn't have left him as cold as he had pretended to be. Maybe he was in pain, too. But why had he left her then?

And the fact that he had trouble sleeping was also slightly worrying. The two nights she had spent with him, he had slept calm like a toddler. He hadn't even made a noise. So there was something bothering him so much, that he couldn't rest at all. Of course it could be the fact that he was ordered to murder someone.. But if he was haunted by her in his dreams then their relationship had to do something with his restlessness as well. Jade shook her head in thought; somehow everything was so confusing. He had appeared to be indifferent when she had talked to him yesterday.. but yet he had cried out her name in his sleep.

Deep inside her something stirred; and with dread Jade realized that it was hope. Did Draco still have feelings for her?

But just as she thought about this possibility, she realized that it wouldn't change anything. If he had decided, for some weird reasons, that they couldn't be together, then the fact that he still liked her couldn't change a thing. She didn't want to hope for anything, because it would only lead to her being disappointed once more. But still it did set her mind at ease to know that it had been her, he had been dreaming of, and not Parkinson. Suddenly Jade remembered something. It hadn't been the first time that Draco had mentioned her during his sleep.

"Blaise, do you remember earlier this year? When he had said something during his sleep as well and you never told me what it was. I guess you can tell me now."

"I could... but it wasn't meant for female ears."

"Oh, come one." She urged him, but Blaise just busied himself with his different cooking pots. "Then don't tell me the exact words, rephrase it."

"Well, he was talking... " Blaise was hesitating, apparently on the search for the right words.. ".. or more fantasizing about your.. bum."

"My bum?" she asked, slightly amused.

"He seemed to be quite fond of it actually."

Jade laughed mirthlessly; somehow this story seemed so bizarre right now. Well, at least there was something Draco would be missing about her, she thought bitterly.

"Well, you do have a very nice bum. And coming from me that says a great deal."

"Thanks Blaise." Somehow Jade was incredibly thankful that Blaise couldn't see her in this moment. Having him talk about her body parts somehow felt very awkward.

And then memories welled up inside her; memories from the night when Draco had said those things in his sleep. It had been on the day of their first real kiss. The night when he had held her in his arms for the first time, kissed her inside the Prefect's bathroom and had whispered things into her ear.. And quickly pain engulfed her heart once more and she buried her face in her hands. She just missed him so badly. Blaise still had his back turned on her. She didn't want to cry in front of him again and so she angrily bit down the tears.

It took quite some time, but finally Blaise turned around, juggling a few plates in his hands.

"There." He smiled a genuine smile as he sat her dinner down in front of her. It looked incredibly delicious once again and even though Jade still had no real appetite, she couldn't _not_ eat it when Blaise had spent so much time and effort preparing it.

"Thanks Blaise." She smiled back at him and started eating.

* * *

The next day, just like the day before, Jade spent the majority of the time in her bedroom. But at least she was reading a book now and Katie and Leanne came in during the late afternoon to keep her company. Apparently Hermione had told the two girls the story, she and Jade had settled on, to cover up the fact that she had broken up with Draco Malfoy.

"Hermione told us a little about what happened. A bad breakup?" Katie asked, as she sat down on her own bed, facing Jade.

Leanne approached her now, holding out a little box of chocolates. "Long distance always sucks, Jade. I've been there."

Katie, who helped herself to one of the chocolates, nodded in consent. "But don't be sad for too long. There are plenty of fish in the sea... hot fish actually." She grinned.

"Yes!" Leanne agreed. "You should never spend too much time on a guy who doesn't deserve it. I once did that. I went out with a guy for a few weeks and everything was great. I remember I was happier than I ever was before. But then slowly I found out that he had been lying about so many different things for the entire time. And then he started meeting other girls, too. And I spend so much time giving him second, third and fourth chances and hoping he'd change, but he never did. He kept on cheating and lying, but I just couldn't let go." She took out a little chocolate herself now and bit down on it in a frustrated manner. Then she shook her head. "In retrospect it was a total waste of time and energy.."

And so the next hours were spent with the two single girls, who really let out all of their frustrating stories about men. Some of them cheated, others had jealousy issues and others problems with intimacy. Jade listened to them and although she couldn't see Draco and herself in one of their stories, it still distracted her thoughts a little. And it made her feel less alone; apparently everybody had to go through heartache once in a while. And they had survived it, hadn't they?

"And then there was this one guy," Katie was saying "who wrote me I was the one for him and he had never met a witch as wonderful as me. Well, I would've been flattered.. If not his owl had apparently lost direction somewhere and the letter was actually meant for another girl!"

Leanne shook her head, taking out the last of the chocolates. "Men suck!"

Jade laughed a little. "Yeah, they really do. And love is bullshit. And you know I never use such words."

Katie chuckled a little. "But you're right there, girl. Love is evil. It really is.. Ever spelled it backwards?"

Jade scrunched her face in concentration as she thought about Katie's words. Love-Evol.. Then she laughed. "I never noticed that!"

"Yeah.. " Katie said. "Stick with us, Jade, and you can learn a whole lot about this stuff." She laughed.

* * *

During the next week Jade really did spend more time with Katie and Leanne. Somehow she really enjoyed hanging around with them and Hermione, just in a round of girls. They helped her dealing with the whole break-up aftermath and always were there for her to listen to her thoughts and support her. She met up with Blaise, too; but somehow they had come to an unspoken agreement not to talk about Draco anymore. For Blaise she always tried to act as cheerful as she could, because somehow she felt a little ashamed that he had seen her, when she had been the biggest mess.

She didn't see Draco once during the next time; he could have left Hogwarts and she wouldn't have noticed any change. She didn't complain though; she would probably fall into pieces if she saw him again. She tried hard to hide it from everybody, but when she lay in bed at night she couldn't stop the tears from coming. It would probably just take a little longer to get over him.

And so the only thing, Jade really looked forward to after the second week of school were the Quidditch try-outs. Harry had scheduled them on Saturday morning and a very large group of people had decided to show up. There even were little groups of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, who had only come to take a closer look at the Chosen One. And while Harry was still trying to reduce the number of applicants with some basic flying test, Jade went over to Hermione, who was sitting close to the pitch on the stands. She noticed that her friend seemed distant and a little colder than usual.

"Are you alright?" she asked her.

"Oh... oh, it's just Ron." Hermione said; then her eyes flew over to where Parvati was standing with Lavender.

"Lavender fancies him, doesn't she?" Jade asked and Hermione instantly looked slightly grimmer.

Then she snorted. "Just look at her." She shook her head. "So desperate for his attention. It's pathetic."

In fact Lavender was giggling hysterically in this moment and crossed her fingers, while beaming at Ron. Hermione groaned.

Jade sat down next to her now, leaning her broom against the bench. "Hermione, you really have no reason to be jealous. It's _Lavender Brown_!"

"Jade, if I remember rightly, _you_ were jealous because of _Pansy Parkinson_. And _she_ is a complete cow." Hermione retorted, making Jade's eyes fall to the ground in sudden embarrassment.

"I just wanted to say" Jade quickly recovered herself "that Ron would be a complete fool to pick her over you."

"You're bound to say that, because you're my friend."

Jade furrowed her brows at that. "Ehm noo.. Even Blaise says that you are an exceptional witch." Jade saw how this made Hermione smile and she just wanted to elaborate on how stupid Ron had to be, not to try to make her his girlfriend, when she was interrupted by a vaguely familiar face.

It was the tall wiry-haired boy from the Slug Club. He approached the two girls now and went ahead to introduce himself.

"Cormac McLaggen." He said, with a slight swagger. "Keeper."

Jade had to grin as she took his hand; he really was kind of full of himself, wasn't he? And not in the attractive Slytherin way. More in the loud, boasting and annoying Gryffindor way. She actually had to laugh when he took Hermione's hand and bent down low to place a smacking kiss on its back. Merlin, he was bad...

"I remember you from the Slug Club." He said to Jade. "You're coming to his dinner party tonight?"

Jade hadn't heard of this party yet and merely shrugged. "I haven't received an invitation yet."

"Such a shame! But maybe you'll still get one. I guess he just invited me first." He grinned confidently now and Jade could see how his eyes trailed down Hermione's features appreciatively. Then he sat down next to her, quite close actually.

"You know, usually I wouldn't really be worried about getting in on the team." He told Hermione now. "I already played with Gwenog Jones and the likes, you know. But everybody knows that Potter would like to have the Weasleys on the team. This oaf Ronald is his best mate after all. But I mean look at him. He's a bundle of nerves most of the time. Couldn't save a series of penalties if his life depended on it." Jade noticed how the colour in Hermione's face rose as McLaggen went on trashing Ron and even Ginny. But apparently McLaggen didn't notice and now he went on and on about the great saves, he already made. Jade rolled her eyes and stood up to lean over the railing of the stands. Then she caught sight of another familiar head; Roger made his way down to the Pitch, a few of his team mates in tow.

She turned back around to Hermione and McLaggen again. His arm was currently draped around her shoulder and the girl was looking more panicky by the minute. Somehow it made Jade grin. As she looked back at the pitch again, she saw Roger smiling in her direction. He had sat down at a stand closer to the goal hoops and was beckoning her to come over.

Well, maybe she should help Hermione out of her current situation anyway. "Hermione? Do you want to come over with me and say hello to Roger?"

Hermione's eyes trailed down to the pitch, resting on a spot below; she hesitated a moment and then a catty grin appeared on her face.

"Oh no.. You go without me, Jade. I'll watch from up here." She smiled at her in a very un-Hermione-ish way. McLaggen was playing with a strand of her hair now.

"Really?" Jade was a little baffled. But Hermione was still smiling at her and so she picked up her broom and left the stands. As she made her way over to Roger, her eyes travelled over the pitch. Ron was staring up to where Hermione was sitting, green in the face and with bright red ears, standing out in a stark contrast.

Jade shook her head. Jealousy really didn't do Hermione any good. Well, if Jade was honest with herself she had to admit that she had tried the same thing with Roger for a short moment. But in her defence: Roger was way more handsome and well-bred than McLaggen and she didn't intend to do it again. Trying to make guys jealous by flirting with others really was kind of immature, especially when you went even further. But Ron and Hermione were at a weird place anyway. Somewhere between love and friendship; constantly bickering and fighting. It was rather confusing to watch them.

Finally she had made her way over to Roger, who was beaming at her as she approached.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, sounding suspicious, but smiling at the same time."Trying to spy on us?"

"Actually yes." He grinned. "Wanted to see the team Potter build up this year. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not." Jade smiled at him as he pulled her into a small hug. He always greeted her like this.

Jade looked back over to where Hermione was sitting with McLaggen. She really was going laugh at her friend if he tried to make a move on her up on the stands.

"Do you know this guy?" she asked Roger, nodding up in Hermione's direction.

"McLaggen? He's such a cretin. What's he here for? Keeper I guess? I hope Potter doesn't choose him. He has a horrible temper. Looks like he is getting friendly with Granger, though. He really has no manners." As he said this, Hermione was currently leaning away from McLaggen as far as she could. Roger snorted and shook his head.

"So, when's your turn?" he nodded over to the pitch.

"I think Harry's looking for Chasers first. So I think I'll be up any moment."

And as if on cue, Harry's voice carried over the stands to them. "Jade! Get down here! You're up next!"

Quickly Jade mounted her broom. "Alright, Jade." Roger ruffled through her hair in a endearing way. "Then go and show Potter what a real Chaser looks like."

She laughed and shot one quick glance over to the stands. Hermione had crossed her fingers in an accurate imitation of Lavender Brown and grinned at her. Then Jade shot off on her broom.

* * *

Soon enough Harry had found him three new (or old) Chasers: Katie, Jade and Ginny, who had really flown extremely well. He got Demelza Robins on the team as well, as a reserve player. Then it was time for the Beaters and finally for the Keepers.

Jade really tried her hardest with McLaggen, but he saved all of their first four penalties. He even made a particularly difficult catch, Ginny shot at him. But at his fifth and final penalty Jade scored. McLaggen had gone off in an entire wrong direction as if he had been Confunded. Ron on the other hand caught every single penalty and was thereby made Keeper.

As soon as everybody was on the ground again, McLaggen stalked over to Harry, looking ready to punch him. Roger really had been right when he had said McLaggen had a nasty temper; but finally he set off, grumbling under his breath.

After Harry had set the time of their first practice, everybody went up to the castle again. Roger was waiting for Jade at the entrance of the pitch.

"You really did great, Jade. I'm actually looking forward to our match this year."

"Yeah, me too. Prepare to be knocked off your broom a few times, though." She grinned.

Roger only laughed. Then his brown eyes turned to look at her again; he watched her from the side while they made their way up to the castle.

"I heard about what happened.. About your break-up. Leanne just told me during try-outs. Well, actually I kind of squeezed it out of her. You've been so distant during the whole week. I was a little worried. Why did you never tell me that you really had a boyfriend?"

Jade sighed. She had distracted herself so well with Quidditch today. Why did he have to bring this up now?

"I think I always was too unsure myself about whether it would ever work out to tell everyone about it." Jade said and looked sadly up to the castle. "And now it didn't work out."

"He must be a really, really stupid moron, Jade. Honestly. Just don't be sad about it. You're far too pretty to be sad." He said and put his arm around her, pulling her close. Jade let him.

She was a bit afraid that now that she was officially 'single' again, Roger would go and try something. But during the next weeks they really spend a lot of time together. They sat next to each other in classes, spend their breaks together, studied in the library or went down to the dungeons to work on Slughorn's project together. Roger was as touchy-feely as he usually was, but he never tried anything that went further. And Jade knew that he was very sensitive in a way; he just was aware of the fact that she wasn't ready for anything new at the moment and didn't even try to change her mind. And he still flirted a lot with Cho Chang and the other Ravenclaw girls.

Jade really began to value her new and old friends. She actually had a lot more time to spend with them now that Draco had simply vanished from the castle.

Over the weeks Jade's sorrow more and more was replaced by anger and humiliation. She wasn't angry at him though, she still couldn't be. Even though a part of her screamed at her to hate him, told her that he was a self-absorbed ass, who had taken her virtue and then dumped her afterwards. She still remembered the way he had touched her that night, the way he had looked at her and held her in his arms. She just couldn't believe that this guy would really act this way. And she didn't want to believe it.

And so she directed all her anger towards herself. How could she have been this naive? When she remembered the time when she had produced her first real Patronus, she felt ashamed of her own stupidity; to ever think they would end up happily ever after. When she thought how she had pictured their future together, maybe with a nice house and beautiful blond children, her cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. She had been so incredibly stupid.

The fact that she had gotten her hopes up like that was why she was hurting so much now. She knew her emotions had simply overtaken her brain at that time; she had thought that _love_ conquered all. Which was a nice thought in theory; only it sucked when you were the only person, who was convinced that it was love.

And as September turned into October she slowly realized that she had matured a lot from this whole experience. She just felt so much older than at the time where she had gotten to know him. Never again would she be this gullible, would trust so easily.. The world just was too cruel to lay your heart out on the table so carelessly. She knew it was her nature to trust and forgive easily, but she realized she should really take Blaise's advice and keep her distance to people, who could hurt her this much.

* * *

The first trip to Hogsmeade came up in the middle of October and Jade wasn't really looking forward to it. The weather had been horrible all week, cold and windy. And she even considered just staying in the warm and cosy Gryffindor tower for the day. But then Hermione dragged her out with them.

They went to the usual shops, but somehow no one was in a good mood today. So as Ron, Harry, Hermione and Jade sat down in the _Three Broomsticks _for a butterbeer it was clear to all of them that they were leaving after that. Hermione and Ron had gotten into a fight again; this time because Ron was ogling the barmaid Madam Rosmerta. Jade couldn't help but shoot Harry an exasperated look, which he returned with a shrug of his shoulders. Finally he set his butterbeer down on the table.

"Shall we call it a day and go back to school then?" Hermione and Ron nodded and Jade quickly stood up.

"I just need to make a quick trip to the bathroom first. I'll be back in a minute." The others fell back in their seats, nodding, and Jade turned around.

Due to the bad weather the pub was cram-full with all sorts of people. And as Jade made her way through the entire length of the room, she saw a few familiar faces. Roger and his friends were sitting at the bar, sipping on their drinks and grinning at her, and Katie and Leanne were sharing a table over at the windows. She smiled at them and Leanne waved over to her, while Katie was busying herself with picking on a hole in her glove.

When Jade finally reached out for the handle of the Ladies' room, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back forcefully. She lost balance and toppled against the person. The rigidity and height of the chest, she stumbled into now, immediately told her that it was a guy. Strong arms were wrapped around her waist to steady her. She turned around in his embrace, wondering who he might be. Probably Roger. Although he wasn't this tall... Maybe McLaggen? Please not him.

But then a breath got caught in her throat and her body froze in his arms. It was Draco.


	28. Chapter 28

_A/N: Sorry, for the little cliffhanger ;) But I didn't want to write the scene twice.. So you'll just get Draco's p.o.v now ;) .. I hope you'll enjoy and please leave me your thoughts! I was soo excited about all the great comments you left last time.. I really appreciate it!_

* * *

"Mr Malfoy, I simply cannot tolerate the failed completion of your homework any longer. I expect you to write _both_ essays today during your detention." Professor McGonagall was saying as she led him into her empty classroom. "I will give you two hours. Then I expect them to be ready." Sternly, she looked at him and Draco nodded, a grim expression on his face.

Then the teacher left and closed the door behind her. It was exactly what Draco needed today: an alibi. Quickly he went to the window nearest to him and opened it. A cold wind blew around his face as he raised his wand.

"Accio broom!" he said, concentrating on the spot where he had laid out his broom earlier. And only a minute later his Nimbus 2001 appeared, soaring across the air. It flew through the window and hovered above the ground to his side. Quickly he mounted it and kicked off. He needed to be fast. The icy air crept into his robes as he flew down to the edge of the forest, knowing that he couldn't leave the grounds of Hogwarts while on a broom. The security measures were too strict these days. So he landed on the cold ground, where nobody could see him, and hid his broom underneath a pile of twigs and fallen leaves.

He wrapped his scarf around his face now and pulled it up above his nose; it would be cleverer if nobody saw him today. Then he pulled up his large hood, hiding his traitorously blond hair underneath it.

The streets of Hogsmeade were deserted; most of the students were already crammed into the shops and pubs, not keen on spending any more time outside in this bad weather. Swiftly Draco approached the _Three Broomsticks_ and entered the pub, looking for a secluded corner. He kept his hood up as he walked through the room, not meeting eyes with anyone. Finally he sat down at a small table, conveniently hidden between the coat rack and a giant barrel of butterbeer.

And then he sat there alone for a long time, waiting for the right moment. The hood was still drawn deep into his face and his steely grey eyes were barely visible, fixed on the barmaid of the pub. From time to time he would take a sip of his drink and let his gaze wander through the crowd. The room was so full of peculiar people that he didn't stand out at all.

As he sat there and waited, he realized that it were times like these, he usually dreaded; times when he was able to think for a moment about what he was doing. The last weeks of his life had probably been worse than his ugliest nightmares, and that was saying much these days. He had spent every waking minute inside the Room of Requirement, trying to fix the broken Vanishing Cabinet, in which Montague had been stuck last year.

His plan was simple enough in theory: mend the Cabinet, get Death Eaters inside the school, kill Dumbledore.

But he was already failing at its first step. He had no idea how to mend this bloody thing and he was growing more impatient each day. The Dark Lord had told him to finish his task before Christmas, but it was already nearing November now and he hadn't made the slightest progress. He was sure that if he arrived back at the Manor, without having done anything to kill the headmaster, he would probably not even return to school after the holidays. At least not alive... maybe he would come back as a ghost to share a cosy little toilet cubicle with Myrtle.

A chilly sensation trickled down his spine; now he was already joking about his own death.

He didn't really think that what he had planned for today would work, but still he had to make some effort to show the Lord that he was at least trying. And so he sat inside the smoky pub today, his wand ready underneath the table. He had put an Imperius Curse on the barmaid some time ago and he knew that a certain package from Borgin and Burkes lay behind the bar, ready to be delivered to the headmaster and kill him as soon as he opened it.

Casually, he nipped on his butterbeer (actually he had made Rosmerta spike it with firewhiskey), as the door of the pub opened once more. His eyes flew over and he watched how Potter and the Weasel entered; Draco averted his gaze as the bushy head of the Mudblood whipped in sight, knowing who would follow her in a second.

Draco was avoiding Jade at all costs, convinced that he wouldn't stand another close encounter with her. He knew her timetable by heart and had taken many, many detours in the castle in order to avoid her. The last time he had really seen her was when they had broken up, a week after the start of term. It had cost him all of his willpower to keep his mind shut during their conversation and it had been a bloody torture. To see her standing there in front of him, disappointed and hurt. And to know that he was the cause for it. He had wanted to take her in his arms, kiss her and tell her that everything would be alright again. But he couldn't. He was determined not to. He had thought of his father in Azkaban and knew that a Malfoy would do this for his family.

He wished he could say that he broke up with her for some noble reason, like good men usually did when doing something this stupid. But he was not one of the good guys, no hero like Potter. He was one of the bad ones.. one of the worst. A blasted Death Eater, he was. He was the one, who put the Imperius curse on innocent barmaids and send cursed objects to his headmaster.

And the real reason why he had broken up with her was solely to make it easier for himself. So that he could put all of his energy in the task that lay ahead of him. He hadn't even lied when he had told her this. But he had certainly lied at another part of their talk. He knew what she had to be thinking now; first he had slept with her and then he had dumped her. Classic. And he hated himself for it, for everything.

But Jade wasn't just any girl. Hell, no. She was so much more than that. She was the only girl, who had ever stirred up Draco's conscience. He didn't exactly know how she had done it, but from the day she had stumbled into him, when he hadn't even been looking, she had slowly conquered his heart. A good thing he didn't need one anymore.. not as a Death Eater...

But when the two of them had been together he had done so many things, he had never done for any other person. And he would never do. Only for her. When he thought of her (and he knew this sounded sappy, but it was true), he always wanted to be a better person; a person, who really deserved her, and a person, she could look up to. But that was _exactly _the opposite of what he needed to become and the reason why he couldn't be together with her any longer.

Draco simply knew that he had no strength to be her boyfriend _and_ a Death Eater at the same time. Being a Death Eater wasn't something you could pull through with half-heartedly. In order to survive Draco had to become a cold-blooded murderer and no love-sick weakling. He had told himself this so many times and he knew it to be true.

And the first step in this direction had been to break up with the girl, he.. well, with _her_. He had postponed it for as long as he could, but as she finally stood in front of him, he knew he had to make it bloody painful. So she would keep her distance from him. And the only consoling thought, he had at the time, was that she would probably be better off without him anyway. Sooner or later he would break her smile for good. A girl like her shouldn't spend her time with a ruddy Death Eater, he told himself.

And then the real misery had begun. Draco couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat; he just was a walking, empty shell of the boy he used to be. During the day he would keep himself occupied with his task and clear his mind with utmost painstakingness. But in the nights, when he tried to sleep and let his guard down, she would come to him in every blasted dream of his. Sometimes they were nightmares, horrible, horrible ones; and other times it was pure heaven. Then he would hold her again, kiss her lips and feel her touches on his skin. But even though those dreams were wonderful, they were torturous at the same time. And the next morning he would wake up even more exhausted than on the evening before. So by now he dreaded the night even more than he dreaded the day.

And although he was convinced that this was the only way; it was just so hard. He felt alone and he missed her. Some nights he was close to crying. And just to be clear here: a Malfoy never cried. But still he sometimes wondered whether he had made the right decision or whether he had made a mistake. Maybe he would be stronger if she was still by his side..?

As Draco felt his thoughts wander in this direction, he immediately stopped himself. He shouldn't go there. He had made his decision and now simply had to make sure that Dumbledore left this world a little prematurely.

His gaze fell back on Madam Rosmerta; the timing seemed good. He pointed his wand at her from under the table; he would renew the Imperius Curse once more.

"Imperio" he muttered, holding his fist in front of his mouth. Immediately a familiar hot sensation seemed to flow out of his mind and tingled down to his left arm, which held his wand, connecting him to Rosmerta. He really was becoming more adept at those Unforgivables.

'_Take the package now and go into the Ladies' room. Wait for the first Hogwarts student to enter; Imperius her and make sure she will deliver the package to Dumbledore. Go!' _

Draco followed the barmaid with his eyes as she made her way over to the Ladies' room and he didn't have to wait long to see the first girl approach the door.

And then the blood froze in his veins. His stomach clenched together violently. It was Jade! With utter horror he watched how she manoeuvred her way through the crowd smoothly and for a moment his mind was simply blank from the shock.

No! No, he couldn't let her walk in there! He simply couldn't!

Draco jumped up from his seat, splattering butterbeer everywhere and sprinted through the pub, pushing the other customers roughly aside. He simply had to reach her before she entered the bathroom. He would never forgive himself if he didn't! And just as Jade raised her hand to take hold of the door handle, he reached her. He caught her arm in his hand and forcefully yanked her back, making her stumble into his chest. Out of instinct Draco snaked his arms around her waist, holding her to him protectively. He got her. She was safe.

He slowly exhaled a breath and closed his eyes, feeling how she turned around in his arms. A faint trace of her scent blended into the smoky air of the pub now and Draco cursed loudly in his head as he realized how his determination wavered even further. He couldn't see how her gaze turned up towards him, but he could feel how her body froze against his own.

And even though Draco knew he should look anywhere but back at her, his eyes opened now and found hers. And it knocked the wind out of him. Merlin, he had forgotten how beautiful she was. He stared down at her and could feel how the walls, he had built up so carefully inside him, crumbled down. She was tearing them down faster than he could ever have imagined.

He was still holding her and he didn't want to let go. He watched her, taking in every little detail of her appearance like a starved person. The way her dark hair cascaded down in soft waves, her beautiful eyes that were looking up at him, her slender nose, those full lips he still longed to kiss. But something was wrong; she didn't look happy. She pushed against his chest now.

"Let go of me!" It sounded as if she was pleading. She struggled against him now.

"Jade." He started. Her name rolled from his tongue like a long lost lover. "I..", but then he stopped as another person pushed past him. It was a girl; Draco recognized her as Katie Bell, the Gryffindor Chaser. She smiled at Jade as she passed them and then entered the Ladies' room. Draco watched her, knowing in the back of his mind what was going to happen in a minute. But he didn't even care about it. All he was thinking about in this moment was the girl in front of him.

She had stopped struggling now and was simply looking up at him, shaking her head slightly and breathing a little shakily. He could sense that she was angry and hurt. But still she hadn't hexed him into next year, what she could have done easily by now. His arms were wrapped tightly around her small waist and Draco's body was aching to pull her in even closer. Then he looked back into her eyes and he could feel how both of them lost themselves in the moment. Something inside him stirred and he knew he wouldn't even try to fight it this time.

The feeling of her body against his own made him never want to let go of her again. Never. He missed her so terribly and he wanted her back. He wanted to hold her in his arms every day. He wanted to show her how much she meant to him.

How could he do this? How could he get her back? She would probably curse him if he tried to kiss her now.. But maybe it was worth a try?

She broke their eye contact and lowered her face to his chest. Her small hands were still pushing slightly against it, but he was far too strong for her. He pulled one arm away from her waist and moved his hand up to catch her chin in his fingers, tilting her head up to look at him again. She looked scared.

Draco could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he slowly bent forwards. "No!" Jade started pushing a little harder against him and tried to move her face to the side, but Draco kept it firmly in place with his hand. Her skin felt incredibly soft and he couldn't resist the temptation to brush his thumb over her lips. They opened at his touch and let out a breath that sounded a little like a sob. It tore at his heart. He moved closer still... Her eyes fluttered shut now.

And then the door behind her opened. The Gryffindor girl stepped out, clutching a package, wrapped in brown paper, to her chest. It struck Draco like a lightning bolt.

_What on earth was he doing? !__  
_

As if he had been burned, he quickly let go of the girl and backed away, tearing his eyes away from her. He turned on the spot and raced out of the pub and out onto the cold, stormy street. He was almost running as he rounded a few corners, coming to a halt in a deserted backstreet. Breathing very heavily, he leaned back against the wall of a house, steadying his breath.

He swore loudly and wildly as he tilted his head back, knocking it a few times into the wall behind him. He closed his eyes. He was such a bloody idiot.

He had just reacted like he knew he would. He had forgotten all about what he was supposed to do. Merlin, maybe people had even seen him in front of the bathroom door, preventing her from entering. As soon as the package would have reached Dumbledore, they would surely suspect him. They only had to trace back the origin of the package and there he was, preventing _her_ from being the one to deliver it. And Jade herself would surely know that he was behind this. Merlin, he was so stupid! His alibi was completely buggered up now.

The cold wind bit at his face like tiny razor blades and sleet was coming down thick and fast, but he didn't care. He didn't even close his coat. A part of him was extremely tempted to go back in his memory and remember what had just happened in front of the bathroom.. his girl in his arms. He refused to stop calling her that, _'his'_ girl. She always would be. And if anyone ever tried to change that, he would surely snap his head off. And now weird feelings shot through his mind faster than he could handle it: possessiveness, jealousy, hurt, longing, desperation. His breathing sped up, he couldn't control it. He needed to go back.

But then he knocked his head back into the wall another time, a little harder.

'Clear your mind, you fool!', he told himself. It was harder than before to do so. He cursed again. He couldn't do this much longer; it would be the end of him.

He stood in the dark of the alley for some time, fighting with his own mind. Then a scream pierced the air, carried along by the wind all the way to him. It was a girl. A foreboding feeling rose up inside him. He made his way through the different small streets until he saw what had happened in the grey light of the fading day. A little way further up on the way to the castle there was a small group of students. Draco saw that one of them was lying on the ground, screaming in agony and thrashing around. It was Katie Bell. Draco groaned and closed his eyes. He had fucked up. He felt close to vomiting.

Her screams tore at his insides; he was responsible for this. And then the screaming stopped and Draco opened up his eyes again to see the large form of Rubeus Hagrid carry the girl up to the castle. The other students followed quickly.

Had he just killed her?

Draco made his body walk back to the edge of the forest, where he had left his broom. And then he flew up to the open window of the Transfiguration classroom again; his mind was blank. He probably was in a state of shock. As if under the influence of the Imperius Curse himself, he closed the window behind him again, shrunk his broom with his wand and pocketed it. Then he sat down at the desk, where Professor McGonagall had laid out some parchment for him. He had exactly five minutes to write two fifteen inch essays.

Surprisingly this was the least of his problems today. He rummaged in the inside of his cloak and pulled out two scrolls of parchment; he had bribed a Ravenclaw seventh-year two write them for him earlier and had already copied them in his own handwriting.

He put them down on the desk in front of him and then sat on his chair rigidly, checking his body and the room for anything suspicious in spite of himself. As the door opened twenty minutes later, Professor McGonagall stepped inside the room, looking flustered. Her eyes swept the classroom and then rested on him.

"Are you ready, Mr Malfoy?"

He nodded and stood up, taking the scrolls of parchment with him to hand them over.

"Excuse my tardiness," she said now. "There has been a horrible accident involving one of my students." Draco noted that this didn't sound as if the girl had died. This thought eased the turmoil inside him a little.

Then he quickly feigned a look of surprise and worry; he had always been a good actor. "What has happened, Professor?"

"You will certainly hear about it soon enough, Mr Malfoy. Off you go now. I'll tell you what I think of those" She took the scrolls from him. "in my next class. And please do remember your homework this time."

Draco nodded and then left the classroom in front of the professor. He had failed. He just was one giant, walking failure. He knew he should go back to the Room of Requirement now and spend the remainder of the day working on the Cabinet. But somehow his feet carried him on their own accord. And minutes later he found himself in front of the Prefect's bathroom, a place he usually avoided... like he avoided every memory of her. But this time he entered the room. Maybe he could manage to drown himself in the hot water of the tub. A man could still hope.


	29. Chapter 29

Jade lay in bed that night and felt sick. Next to her Leanne was still sobbing silently into her cushions. Both girls had witnessed what had happened to Katie today. How she had touched that necklace through a tiny hole in her glove and rose up into the air for one gruesome moment. And then she had screamed; her screams had been more terrible than anything Jade had ever heard. They had been full of pain.

And Jade knew who had done it. At first Draco's actions inside _The Three Broomsticks_ had completely baffled her; but as soon as Leanne had told them where Katie had gotten the package from, the scales had fallen from her eyes. A dreadful realization had drawn upon her.

Draco had prevented her from entering the bathroom before Katie did. If he hadn't, then maybe she would have been in Katie's place. And the fact that Draco had known what was going to happen inside the bathroom could only mean one thing: He was behind this!

Of course Harry had suspected him immediately anyway; it just fit into his whole Malfoy-is-a-Death-Eater theory, he had been preaching to Hermione and Ron constantly. Nobody except Jade had seen Draco in the pub, but Harry had recognized the cursed necklace from Borgin and Burkes. However when he had told Professor McGonagall about his suspicions she had cut him off rather briskly and told them that Draco hadn't even been in Hogsmeade this day, but had been serving detention with her. Yet Jade was positively sure that she hadn't imagined him holding her up today.

She wanted to talk to somebody about it, but she couldn't. It would give Draco away immediately and although they had broken up, she couldn't be this disloyal to him, she couldn't betray him.

She rolled around in her bed another time; her mind was buzzing with everything that had happened. This time Draco had really tried to take the life of someone and Jade still did not know who the person was. It was someone in the castle, but apparently nobody, who had been in Hogsmeade today. So that left basically all the students below third year, a few teachers, Madam Pomfrey, Filch, Hagrid.. But why would he try to kill any of them? She really didn't believe that You-Know-Who had had any interest in killing someone like Filch.. although he might do a few students a favour.. Jade scolded her own mind for thinking this ill..

If Jade was You-Know-Who the two persons, she would like to have killed the most within Hogwarts, were obviously Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. But Harry had been right behind Katie and McGonagall had told them that Dumbledore had left the school yet another time for the weekend. And to expect a sixteen year old boy to kill the headmaster really was completely escapist anyway. It couldn't be..

And somehow Jade couldn't help but think that Draco's plan hadn't been very well thought-through from the beginning. With Filch searching every student, who came or left the castle, for dark objects the necklace would never have gotten inside anyway. It seemed as if Draco was getting desperate and didn't really care anymore, whom he hurt in the process. Yet still he had cared about not hurting her.

And that was the other thing that kept Jade awake that night. The way Draco had acted towards her today had shaken her. It wasn't just the fact that he hadn't wanted her to die a painful death, but the way he had looked at her as he held her in his arms.

The last time they had seen each other he had treated her with a cold indifference... but this time something had changed in his eyes once again. He had held her close to him and Jade could swear that for a moment he had been about to kiss her. And kissing really wasn't necessary to prevent someone from entering a bathroom door. She had struggled against him.. but not with all her might. She knew she should have hexed him the moment he had taken hold of her, but her stupid heart had made her act like a fool again. She shouldn't have allowed him to pull her back in like that, but she couldn't help it. No matter how much she tried to change it, her feelings for him didn't just go away.

Jade wanted to deny it, but why should she lie to herself? She had tried hard to fall out of love with him during the last few weeks, but to no avail. He still had this hold over her and even though a huge part of her wanted to be stronger, she still missed him and wanted him back in her life. She just couldn't make herself stop loving him. And slowly she had started to accept that. If her foolish heart had decided that it wanted to stick with him, well then so would it be. She couldn't suppress it anyway. She could just learn to deal with it. And actually she had learned. She hadn't cried for a whole week now and she didn't want to start again today. Actually she had cried a little earlier, but that was for Katie, so it didn't count.

But even though Jade had no idea what to make of his behaviour, she knew one thing for sure now. Draco still cared about her. She wished he could have been honest about this when he had broken up with her, but he probably thought that it was easier this way. It consoled her and made her sad at the same time. She knew it wouldn't change anything. They still couldn't be together, even though they belonged to each other... Maybe they were just victims of fate..

She exhaled a breath as this thought tugged at her heart. But then she caught herself quickly. Jade knew that the only thing, she could do right now, is to start living her life again. She shouldn't forget to be the person she really was. She could carry him around with her in her heart, but she couldn't obsess about him any longer. It wouldn't lead to anything and it exhausted her.

She turned around again and reached out her hand to open the little drawer of her nightstand. The small flask of _Dreamless Sleep Potion_, she kept in there, was almost empty by now. But it would suffice for one night of blissful sleep. She took a gulp and let herself fall back into her cushions again. A moment later a calm darkness engulfed her.

* * *

The next morning Katie was transferred to St. Mungo's. This was terrible news as it meant that whatever it was, what had happened to her, it couldn't be cured easily.. if ever.

For the entire week Jade kept herself extremely busy with her work for her N.E.W.T. classes. And something else was starting to occupy her mind more and more. On Monday Harry had had his second private lesson with Dumbledore and this time the headmaster had shown him another set of memories, he had collected. Just like in the first lesson, Dumbledore was showing Harry the beginnings of the wizard, who hid himself behind the mask of Lord Voldemort. Jade shuddered as she thought of the name. But as Harry had told her about the scene of the young Tom Riddle in the orphanage, she couldn't help but be fascinated.

As she walked down to the dungeons on Wednesday she remembered the important points, Dumbledore had pointed out to Harry after their lesson. The fact that Riddle had already used his powers to scare and manipulate people at such a young age; the fact that he hated being called by his 'ordinary' name Tom; the fact that he preferred to do things on his own and the fact that he had a knack for collecting trophies.

Jade knew that Dumbledore had never pointed out these points if they were not of a crucial importance. Harry needed to understand You-Know-Who even better to be ready to face him eventually.

Jade rounded another corner as her thoughts still swirled around the boy, who used to be called Tom Riddle, and was a little surprised to see that she had reached her destination already.

"Felix Felicis." She told the portrait of an old witch with a very mean face and a hunchback.

"That's right." She croaked and swung forward.

Jade entered the high-ceilinged chamber and the portrait swung close behind her again. She could see that Roger was already there, standing above his potion and staring down at it critically. He turned around towards her now and shot her his usual dazzling smile.

"Morning Jade." He said brightly. "You arrive at exactly the right time. I think I need to make a quick trip to the storage room. Could you watch my potion for a moment? If it changes temperature at this stage everything will be ruined."

"Sure, Roger." She smiled at him and took a few steps forward. "I'll do that."

"Thanks.. you're a peach. Do you need anything from there, too?" he asked her as he made his way over to the portrait hole.

"No, I'm fine, thanks."

As Jade heard the portrait swung close behind her once more, she turned towards Roger's potion. He had actually done a pretty good job until now. His Amortentia already had the typical mother-of-pearl sheen and the only difference from the potion, Professor Slughorn had shown them, was that it only ever smelled of one thing at the time.

Jade remembered how it had smelled so much like Cinny's pancakes during the last few days that her stomach had been rumbling constantly. Before that the cold dungeons had smelled like a beautiful summer morning in the middle of October. And this time the potion smelled just like Jade knew it would smell eventually. It smelled like _him_.

But weirdly enough it didn't bother or upset her at all; it just relaxed her. And she leaned over Roger's cauldron to inhale the scent deeply. She checked the temperature with her wand, but it was just how it needed to be and then she closed her eyes again and got lost in the scent once more.

It smelled so incredibly nice, exactly like him. Fresh, yet masculine and if she didn't keep her mouth shut, she would probably drool into Roger's cauldron. Memories of him shot up in her mind now and she didn't tear herself away, but enjoyed the sensation. Somehow the magic of the potion made her feel so at ease with everything.

Distantly she heard how the portrait opened and closed again and how footsteps approached her from behind. She had fallen into something like a trance, standing there and breathing slowly and deeply, mesmerized by the smell and the images of him, which were swirling through her head.

Then arms were wrapped around her and even though a part of Jade knew it was Roger, she just pretended it to be Draco for a moment. She sank back into his embrace and relaxed against his chest. For a moment she felt very content and even happy. She smiled as she kept her eyes closed.

Then the boy behind her moved and placed a small kiss on her temple. Butterflies erupted in her stomach at his touch and she turned her head to the side, facing him.

Slowly her eyes fluttered open again and with sobering clarity she could see that it really was Roger, who was holding her in his arms. He was watching her face intently through his bright brown eyes.

"Roger?" she asked, very silently, as she came to her senses again.

"Yeah?" he answered, just as silent.

"This potion is very, very dangerous!" she smiled at him.

"I know." His eyes lingered on her smile for a moment. Then they travelled upwards again. "That's why I wanted to try it."

"Do you smell another girl right now?" Jade asked, in spite of herself

"No.." he answered, looking a little quizzically at her. "Why would I?"

Then he seemed to realize the real meaning of her question and for an instant Jade thought she could see disappointment flicker through his eyes. Then he let go of her and turned around to prepare his potion ingredients.

Jade made her way to her own small cauldron a few tables apart from Roger, feeling guilty. Somehow she felt as if she had used Roger just to feel happy again for a little moment. She heated up her own cauldron and started adding a few more ingredients, which she had laid out on the table the night before. But somehow she was still thinking about what had just happened and after ten minutes she realized that she had done something wrong. She checked her copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_ again and cursed under her breath. Even though this was the moment, when her potion should turn into the spectacular golden colour, it still was an ugly, dirty mustard. Maybe she had heated the cauldron up too quickly.. or added the ingredients too hastily.

Jade groaned and hoped that she hadn't ruined everything completely now. She still had about a month and a half to deliver the potion, but it would be such a pain to start from scrap again. She let the potion cool down slowly now and thought she would just call it a day. She couldn't do anything right now anyway. She would have to look up in the library for some tips and tricks on what to do now.

"You know what, Roger. I think I'm going to leave earlier today."

The boy turned to look at her. "Trouble with Felix?"

"Yeah.. He really is a stubborn little brat."

Roger grinned. "Oh, you'll get him under control eventually." He shot her an encouraging smile and then went to ask. "What about your match against Slytherin on Saturday? Has Potter found a replacement for Katie yet?"

Jade nodded, realizing with dread that the game was only three days apart from now. "He asked Dean Thomas. He's an alright player."

"Another one of his classmates?" Roger looked a little sceptical. "Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you anyway. So see you tomorrow, Jade."

"Bye, Roger." Jade grabbed her bag and quickly left the room.

The match against Slytherin was something that lay heavy on her mind for quite some time now. She would be on the pitch with Draco for an entire game and it made her feel very nervous. As she made her way up to library the nervousness suddenly turned into nausea. She didn't feel ready to do this yet. Nobody ever knew how long a game of Quidditch would take and if she had to be on the pitch for more than ten minutes with him, she would probably miss everything and get hit by Bludgers, while trying to avoid flying in his direction. Or maybe she should even let herself get hit by a Bludger during the first minutes and just get it over with.

She had reached the library now and wandered into the potions section; she picked out three books that might be able to help her and turned to look for an empty table. Over at the windows a familiar mane of brown hair caught her eye.

"Hey Hermione!" she whispered at the girl as she sat down next to her.

"Jade! I thought you would be down in the dungeons at this time! How is your potion?" Hermione asked in a hushed voice, her eyes sizing up the books, Jade had put down on the table next to her.

"Actually, I think I kind of ruined it today. I wasn't concentrated for a moment and did something wrong. Trying to look up a few tips now so I can still save it." Jade said darkly.

"Well, if you don't find something, I guess you can still ask Slughorn for some advice. He's your professor after all... Oh, that reminds me of something! I totally forgot to tell you. At our last dinner party Slughorn told me that he is going to arrange a Christmas party for his Slug Club and you can bring guests this time. And actually Jade, you won't be able to weasel your way out of this one, because Slughorn specifically asked me to look for an evening, when Harry was free. So he can't reschedule your Quidditch practice once more."

"A Christmas party?" Jade asked. "With dates? Well, who are you going to take with you?"

"Actually I already asked Ron." The girl smiled at Jade in earnest happiness.

"Oh Hermione! I'm so happy for you. _Finally_!" Jade squealed, making Hermione laugh. "Really. This is such great news!"

Jade beamed at her friend. The fact that Hermione and Ron might be finally getting together really brightened up her mood. She just was so happy for her friend and somehow it lessened her own misery to think that at least Hermione was moving on with the boy, she was in love with.

The two girls sat in the library for quite some time, studying in their books and giggling at times. And Jade could honestly say that she was looking forward to Slughorn's party this time; not because of herself, but because of her friend.

* * *

On the night before the match against Slytherin Jade made her way up to the Gryffindor Common Room after a late dinner. Slowly the nausea, she had already felt a few days earlier, crept up inside her again. She hadn't even been able to eat anything besides a little salad at dinner. Her palms grew cold and slightly sweaty when she thought about the next day. She stepped through the portrait hole and saw Harry sitting on the hearthrug in front of the fireplace. Ron was sitting close-by on an armchair, his Transfiguration homework on his lap; but he merely stared down at it, eyes unmoving and green in the face. He was just looking as sick as Jade felt. And if possible he was even more afraid of the match tomorrow than she was.

As she came nearer to the dark-haired boy on the hearthrug she recognized that he was reading in his copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_; Harry was practically obsessed with this book. It was a very old, battered copy; little remarks and self-invented spells from its previous owner were scribbled on every page and had helped Harry to rise to a new glory in his potions class.

Somehow Jade didn't approve of the book; she had read in it a few times and the 'Half-blood Prince', as the person called himself, seemed to have a wicked sense of humour. Jade thought his character seemed a little dodgy as did Hermione, who strongly disapproved of Harry using his spells and tricks. But Harry didn't listen anyway.

Jade sat down on the floor next to him.

"Harry?" she asked him as his green eyes shot up to look at her. "Harry, I don't think I can do this."

He groaned. "Not you, too."

"I'm sorry." She looked down on the ground, feeling slightly ashamed."I just don't know if I'll be any good."

Harry set down the book on his lap now and turned to fully look at her. "Jade, you've become one of my best players. I need you on the pitch tomorrow!"

"But I.."

"No." He simply shook his head. "Jade, I'm your Captain! It's an order!" he grinned at her.

Then his eyes softened a little and he patted her shoulder. "I know you can do this, Jade. You'll kick their green asses tomorrow and then you'll feel better already."

Jade nodded and her eyes trailed down to the book again. Suddenly she had a thought.

"Harry? Did the Prince write anything about Felix Felicis?"

"Dunno.. But I can have a quick look for you." Harry opened up the book again and quickly found the pages about the potion. They were full of little remarks and corrections and Jade's eyes grew wide.

"Lucky me." She said. "Would you mind if I copied that?"

Harry shook his head and handed over the book. Jade checked the Common Room to make sure that Hermione wasn't in sight. Then she turned to Ron.

"Ron? Would you lend me one of your parchments?

"Sure." His voice sounded hollow and he didn't even turn to look at her as he pulled a fresh piece of parchment out of his bag and handed it over.

With her wand Jade quickly copied the page of the book over onto the parchment. Then she gave Harry his book back.

"Thank you so much, Harry. This really might save my neck. I think I'll go to bed and catch some sleep now. See you tomorrow.. on the pitch." She smiled at him and then left for her dormitory.

* * *

The next morning Jade still felt extremely nervous. But she was determined to go through with it. Somehow she simply had to.. And after all the Quidditch pitch was pretty huge. She might not even fly into him once. After a quick breakfast she went down a little earlier with Ginny to check the weather conditions. It was a cold, yet bright day and the frosty grass crunched underneath their feet. It was almost ideal for Quidditch. As they made their way down to the stadium, Blaise caught up with them.

"Morning Jade!"

"Hey Blaise!" She turned towards her best friend and offered him a small smile. Blaise came closer now and spoke silently to her.

"Jade, Malfoy isn't playing. He called in sick, even though he didn't look significantly sicker than usual."

Jade's mouth formed a silent 'Oh'. Somehow this was good news on one hand, but still a little disquieting on the other. Draco had always been a huge fan of Quidditch, it just was a little fishy that he didn't turn up today.

"What did he say he had?" she asked Blaise.

"A headache. But as Urquhart told him to go up to Pomfrey and take some potion for it, he merely glowered at him and left the Common Room. I haven't seen him since. But I don't think he'll even come to watch. Urquhart is playing Harper instead."

"This is weird.." Jade said, staring up into the sky above the Quidditch stadium. She wanted to know what Draco was doing; she just was convinced that he wasn't really sick. A headache was no reason for any _real_ Quidditch player to call a match off.

"No, actually it's great." Ginny beamed at her. "Without Malfoy the Slytherin team hasn't got any chance against us. I know Harper and he's an idiot."

Blaise smirked, apparently sharing Ginny's thought in Harper. "Actually the Slytherin team lacks two of their usual player today. Vaisey got a Bludger to the head during practice and he still isn't able to play."

"Ha," Ginny said triumphantly. "sounds to me, Zabini, as if your team is going down hard today!" She let out an uncompassionate laugh.

But Blaise merely shrugged and clapped Jade on the shoulder. "Good luck, kid." And then he sped off to catch up with his friends.

Ginny stared at his retreating back with a baffled look on her face. Jade laughed as she saw her expression. "He doesn't care about Quidditch, Gin."

The redhead shook her head, bewildered. "I always knew there was something wrong with him."

As the two girls made their way to the stadium and entered the changing room, Jade's thoughts were still on Draco. He had changed so much during those last months. He had always been _the_ Slytherin Quidditch player and now he simply didn't turn up anymore.

But as soon as Jade had stepped out into the stadium and was greeted by tumultuous roaring, her thoughts quickly went back to the game. Slytherin vs. Gryffindor always was the toughest match of the season and the stadium was like a divided sea of red and gold on one side and green and silver on the other. Jade waved up to the Gryffindor curve as she walked down to where Madam Hooch was standing in the middle of the pitch.

"Captains, shake hands." The referee said and Harry stepped forward to give Urquhart a rather brutal-looking handshake. "Mount your brooms. On the whistle... three.. two ... one.."

And Jade kicked off into the air. Ginny had already caught the Quaffle and Jade soared after her, ready to catch a pass. But then a Bludger was hit at the ginger girl and in an attempt to avoid being hit, she let the Quaffle drop. Urquhart had just been waiting for this and caught it in his arms, then he sped off towards the goal hoops.

"Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, " Jade heard the commentator Zacharias Smith say ".. and Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes.."

Had he really just said that? What an idiot!

"Good job, Ron!" she encouraged her friend as he passed her the Quaffle. If Ron kept going like this they would have a fair chance.

And then Jade sped off once more. Ginny and Dean at her sides as they formed the Hawkshead Attack Formation, Harry had taught them. A bludger was aimed at Jade and she quickly passed the Quaffle over to Ginny. A Slytherin Chaser sped forwards to foul the girl, but Dean blocked him off. Ginny was speeding up towards the goal hoops and it seemed as if she was going to attempt a goal.

But then she let the Quaffle drop; it was another ploy Harry had taught them and Jade was ready, darting right underneath Ginny to catch it. And just as her fingers had taken hold of it, a Slytherin Beater fired up to her side, knocking his bat against her broom handle with all his might. Jade's broom was spiralling out of control fast as the audience gasped.

With a loud crash, she smashed into the wood of one of the Slytherin stands. And she clutched at it, desperately trying to pull herself up on the broom again. The Quaffle was still in her other arm. She heard cackling laughter right beside her. It was Pansy Parkinson, who sat in the audience gloating over her accident and smirking at her evilly.

For a moment Jade thought that her fingers might slip and she would fall, but then she regained control over the situation again. And just as she pulled herself up on the broom again, Madam Hooch's whistle souned over the pitch.

"Clear Foul! Use your bat on the Bludgers and not on broomsticks! Heywood, take your penalty!"

Jade straightened herself up on the broom now and then proceeded to the goal hoops. On the blow of the whistle she shot forwards once more, aimed and.. scored. A triumphant roaring and shouting broke out at the Gryffindor curve behind her and Jade couldn't resist making a small detour over to the Slytherin stands.

"Who's laughing now?" she spat at Parkinson, whose Pug face had turned a blotchy pink in her anger. Jade laughed at her and sped off again. Merlin, did she dislike this witch.

Soon enough Gryffindor was leading with sixty points. Ron had saved every goal with ease until now and the Chasers kept on scoring. The Gryffindor team played the game flawlessly. And only half an hour later it was over; Harry hadn't failed them and had caught the Snitch right underneath Harper's nose.

The Gryffindor team sank down towards the grass of the pitch in a mid-air group hug; everybody was laughing and waving towards their housemates and supporters. A few minutes later they were all in the changing room and hurrying to get quickly to the party up in the Common Room.

Only Jade was lacking behind a little, wincing as she tried to open her boots. During the last five minutes a Bludger had hit her left elbow and now she fumbled her wand out of her uniform to heal it. It only took a few minutes and she had performed the right healing spell. She looked around in the changing room and saw that only Ron and Harry had stayed behind. Right in that moment Hermione came darting in.

As Jade bent down low again to open her boots fully, she could hear Hermione's voice sounding slightly shrilly. On no, were Ron and Hermione fighting again? You would think that after such a great game they would be able to leave it for once.

Suddenly Jade wasn't in such a hurry to get dressed anymore. The constant bickering of Ron and Hermione really was exhausting and Jade simply hated fighting, even when she was not involved directly. But as she finally was ready and took her broomstick in her hands, she could see Ron striding out of the door and shutting it in Hermione's face.

Harry was looking a little flabbergasted and Hermione seemed to be blinking back tears. Jade let her shoulders drop.

"Er," Harry said "shall.. shall we go up to the party, then?" He shot Jade a furtive look.

"You go!" Hermione's voice sounded even shriller now. "I'm _sick_ of Ron at the moment, I don't know what I'm supposed to have done.."

And then she stormed out of the changing room. Harry and Jade exchanged a glance, both of them very unhappy with what had just happened.

"I'll go after her." Jade said.

Harry nodded. "Thanks, Jade. I think you'll be better at this than I am."

She smiled at the boy. "See you up there, Harry." And then she left the changing room to look for Hermione. She found her quickly, only a short distance away and wandering over the grounds.

"Did you two fight again?" she asked in a soft voice as she approached.

Hermione sniffed a little and shook her head. "You know, I only ever want the best for Ron, but somehow he just doesn't get it. He can be such a git at times."

Jade nodded sympathetically; she knew the situation between the two of them was more than difficult, but still she was convinced that Ron had the same feelings for Hermione as she did.

"I know, but maybe it's difficult for him, too. You just were friends for such a long time. Maybe he doesn't know how to handle everything right now. But he is a good guy at heart, we both know that."

Hermione smiled at her now. "Yes, he is."

And Jade smiled back, looping her arm through Hermione's and wandering up towards the castle with her. "So, why don't we get up there now and you _really_ congratulate him? He made some fine saves today."

Hermione looked suspicious. "What do you mean by 'really'?"

Jade grinned. "Don't you think you should just go for it? I mean I know I'm not one to talk; I always was too shy to go for what I wanted. But that's one thing I'm going to change about myself. If there's something you want and you can get, then you should take it."

But the bushy-haired girl only looked quizzically back at her.

"Oh, come on, Hermione. As if he would reject you!"

Hermione blushed and smiled. "Okay, Jade. Let's go up there."

The triumphant feeling inside Jade increased now and she couldn't stop herself from grinning as they made their way up towards the Gryffindor Tower. She didn't know why exactly, but somehow she was determined to get Hermione and Ron together.

Finally the two girls pushed through the portrait hole and entered the Common Room; they were greeted by loud music and excited chattering. Hands clapped on Jade's back as she made her way through the wild post-game celebrations to look for Ron. Hermione was by her side as they scanned the room for the tall redhead. They didn't have to search for too long.

Merlin, no! The grin was quickly wiped off Jade's face.

The idiot was standing there, in full view of the room, wrapped tightly around Lavender Brown in a passionate embrace. You couldn't even distinguish where his face stopped and hers began. Jade simply couldn't believe what she was seeing. She felt a drooping sensation in her stomach and could barely resist the temptation to bury her face in her hands. What was wrong with this boy?

And as she turned around to look at Hermione the girl had vanished. Jade looked back at the portrait hole and could just see a mane of brown hair whip out of sight. She groaned and started to follow her and ran into Harry on the way. Apparently he had seen Hermione's reaction as well.

"He is such a bloody idiot!" she said to him. He looked very uncomfortable. "I'll go after her this time."

Jade nodded and watched how Harry left the room. As she turned around again, Ron was still eating Lavender's face. It was the unsexiest kiss, Jade had ever seen. Somehow it reminded her of the way Ron would always dig into his Treacle Tart at dinner.

She sneered at them as she made her way through the crowd and up to Hermione's dormitory. She sat down on the girl's bed and waited.

Twenty minutes later the door opened again and without saying one word Hermione crossed the room and flung herself onto to bed next to Jade, head first. She buried her face in the cushion.

Somehow Jade felt guilty. She was the one who had just talked Hermione into giving Ron a chance, even trying to go further with him. She had encouraged her to do it. But who would have known that the moron really did something this stupid? Apparently Jade had been wrong about him.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry." She spoke silently as she brushed some of the girl's wild curls away to stroke her back. " I was wrong. I really didn't expect this."

Hermione's voice was very muffled as she spoke into the cushion. "It's not your fault, Jade." She was trying hard to keep her voice steady.

"But still I take everything back. The stuff I said about him being a good guy at heart.. He's a git at heart. You were right.."

Hermione only sniffed at this.

"Shall I go down and punch him for you?" Jade asked now, being remembered of Blaise.

Hermione let out a little laugh, but shook her head. She turned her face towards Jade and there were fine streaks of tears upon it.

"I just don't know how I'm supposed to stand this. You know.. Later when Parvati and Lavender come back. I'll hear their stupid giggling for the whole night. And I'll hear her talk about him. I know it's not her fault either.. But I don't know if I can take it."

Jade nodded, feeling slightly depressed. She would probably murder someone if she had to listen to Pansy Parkinson telling her best friend how she had snogged Draco for an entire night. The mere thought of it made her blood boil.

"Do you want to stay at my dormitory for the night? Katie's bed is still empty.."

"No, that would only look as if I was fleeing."

"Then I'll wait here until they return. I could cast the Muffliato spell over you; the one from the Prince's book. You wouldn't be able to hear them then."

Hermione nodded. "I think that could work." The fact that she was willing to use one of the Prince's spells really showed how broken she felt right now.

And Jade stayed with her for hours. They didn't really talk much, but she was there for her friend just like Hermione had been there for her all those weeks ago. She shook her head as she thought about it; now they were two broken-hearted girls. This really sucked. But they would get through it. Eventually.

And when Lavender and Parvati came in hours later, giggling and clutching at each other excitedly. Jade stood up, took out her wand and mumbled "Good night, Hermione." She added a non-verbal 'Muffliato!' and left the dormitory.

* * *

_A/N: This chapter is a little bit of a filler, but I would really appreciate your thoughts nonetheless ;) _

_And I have to thank you once again for all those amazing reviews you left me! :)_


	30. Chapter 30

The next morning the Cold War between Ron and Hermione officially began. They didn't talk to each other except for snide remarks or malicious giggling and Harry had real problems to hang around with his two best friends. Jade however had taken sides; she was full on team Hermione. Girls just had to stick together sometimes.

And so during the next weeks when Ron and Lavender, who had become a real couple now, were snogging all over the place (and it still hadn't become any nicer to look at) Jade would stick to Hermione's side. At breakfast they would sit at the other end of the table, trying to ignore the fact that Lavender was feeding Ron spoons of her own meal.

To Jade, Lavender had committed the ultimate relationship sin: she had started the baby talk. And just as she cooed about how 'Won-Won' (obviously his new name) should have another spoon, Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust and Jade faked throwing up into her bowl of cereal. Ginny had seen and snorted into her juice.

Yes, they were a little mean. But first of all Jade had no need to see obnoxiously happy couples right now and secondly had Ron made Hermione cry during their last Transfiguration class. He had imitated the way she would always raise her hand in class and Lavender had laughed at it like a cow; at least that was what Hermione said.

As they stood up from the table, Hermione still fumed. "You know, Jade. He's going to get payback for this. I mean obviously I'm not taking him to Slughorn's party any longer; and so I'm free to choose whom I like. I'm thinking about ... Zacharias Smith." She said the name with a maliciousness in her voice, Jade had rarely heard from her.

She had to laugh. "You're not serious!"

Hermione didn't answer, but merely grinned at Jade as they made their way through the Great Hall.

"Hermione, Smith is an idiot. I mean, sure he would annoy Ron, but he would annoy you even more. That's not even worth it!"

Hermione came to a halt for a moment, pondering something. Then her eyes trailed down the Gryffindor table. Cormac McLaggen was winking at her from over his plate and Hermione smiled back at him.

Jade's eyes were switching rapidly from Hermione, to McLaggen and back to Hermione again; she laughed and shook her head. She could try to talk Hermione out of this, but if her friend wanted to annoy Ron with her date for the party, then McLaggen was probably the right choice.

"Hermione, Blaise is waiting for me. We'll talk about this later!" and with a pointed look Jade was gone.

* * *

Later that day, when Jade was sitting on her bed and organizing various rolls of parchment, Hermione bustled in through the door, closely followed by Ginny.

"It's decided. I'm going with Cormac!" Hermione said cheerfully and let herself fall down upon Katie's bed.

"You are going to regret this!" said Jade in a sing-song voice.

"Well, I tried to talk her out of it." Ginny said now. "But to no avail. Who are you taking by the way? I mean it's only two weeks from now."

"Actually.. well, we didn't really talk about it, but I thought I would just go with Blaise."

Hermione nodded her head in agreement, but Ginny looked very sceptical. "I don't think you should do that." The redhead said.

"Why? Because we are best friends? No, Blaise knows it would be just 'friendly'. We're not like that."

"No, Jade that's not what I meant." Ginny looked over to Hermione, apparently looking to get some support from her. But the brunette only looked back innocently and Ginny started talking again.

"Don't you think it's time to move on? You know back when I was smaller, I had the hugest crush on Harry. I always became so nervous when he entered the room. I couldn't even speak. And yes, I guess that's hard for you to imagine right now." She added with a grin. "But then I realized that he didn't like me in that way and I just started dating other people for a while. And it really helped me."

Jade nodded. "And when did the feelings for Harry go away?" She thought she could see the tiniest flush on Ginny's cheeks.

"Well, what I mean is that you should just throw yourself back in the game. It'll do you good." Ginny clearly avoided her question and Jade felt a little disappointed.

"I don't know. I don't even know who I should ask. And I don't feel up for it." Jade let herself fall backwards onto her bed.

Ginny's face dropped, but after a moment she showed a fierce determination and her jaw was set. She showed a remarkable resemblance to Fred and George right now. Apparently she was going to roll out the heavy artillery.

"Jade, it's been three months! You've been so languid for the entire time now. You know back then when you started school, you were this incredible new girl. Every boy in the castle drooled after you and I can't deny that I was a little jealous at that time. The way the room would change its light whenever you entered. But lately you just turned it off.. I see you cringe every time you catch sight of a blond boy. Come on Jade, pick yourself up and be the amazing person, we now you to be, again. I dare you to get out of bed right now and go ask the hottest boy of school to be your date!"

Jade turned her head to the side and smiled at Ginny. "The hottest boy of school?"

The redhead grinned and nodded; Hermione sat up on her bed excitedly. "Well, apart from the 'Chosen One' of course.. Harry wouldn't count." Ginny added.

"Alright, you're right!" Jade got out of bed and smiled at her friends, who were both grinning broadly now. "I'm going to do this!"

Ginny held out her hand and Jade shook it. Then she left for the bathroom. For the first time in weeks she took her time getting ready, taking a nice shower and applying some more makeup than she usually did. She curled her hair with her wand and looked back into her reflection in the mirror; she could say that she looked rather pretty.

The hottest boy in school.. Well, according to the witches of the castle there could not be much doubt about who that was...

She bundled up in her winter cloak, as it was very cold in the hallways of the school, and made her way out of the Gryffindor Tower. Ginny and Hermione cheered for her as she walked through the Common Room; it made Jade smile. A moment before she closed the portrait behind her, she looked back.

"And I'm expecting a reward for this, Gin!"

* * *

Then she turned and walked out into the corridors of the castle. It was Sunday, so he was probably studying in the library. She felt more confident than she had felt in a long time as she made her way through the rows of bookshelves and approached the table, where she knew the Ravenclaws always studied. And there he sat; he even was alone today.

She moved to stand beside him and put on her prettiest smile "Hey Roger!"

The dark-haired boy turned to look at her now and his light brown eyes took in her appearance. "Hey Jade. Come to study down here?"

"Well, not really." Jade sat down on the bench next to him, as he scooted over to make some more room. "I wanted to.. " suddenly she felt awkward about asking a guy out. In her old-fashioned mind the boy was supposed to ask out the girl. But he really couldn't as he had not gotten an invitation. She smiled shyly at Roger.

"Yes...?" he asked her, putting down his quill on the desk.

"Have you heard about the Christmas Party Slughorn is throwing?" Jade asked him now.

Roger nodded. Now that Jade looked at him closely, he really was ridiculously handsome. His face was just uncommonly pretty for a guy. His features were very even, yet still very manly. His short brown hair looked shiny and his appearance was groomed at all times.

"Yeah, I've heard about it. You got invited?" He grinned at her. Jade sensed that he already knew what she really wanted from him. So she nodded now, looking into his eyes.

"You already got a date?" He grinned even broader at her now. And Jade shook her head. Suddenly she felt even shyer. Now that he knew what she had come to ask, he expected it from her..

"No, I haven't. I'm not really comfortable with asking guys out." Now that she had said it out loud, she already felt much better.

"Although I think you are the only girl, who really could ask any guy in the school out and he would go with you.."

"Would _you_?"

Roger chuckled a little. "Of course I would, Jade!"

Now she beamed at him. She had just asked a boy out and he had said yes. She didn't know exactly why, but when it came to boys her Gryffindor courage usually failed her. It boosted her self-confidence that she had finally dared it.

"So.. when is this party?" Roger asked her now.

"It's on the last Friday before the holidays and I heard it's going to be rather fancy, so you probably have to suit up." Jade smiled now. She remembered how much fun it could be to get ready for a party like this. She hadn't even thought about what dress she was going to wear until now.

"But Roger, please don't expect too much. The Slug Club meetings are usually rather boring.."

"It's not going to be boring if I'm with you." He said, putting on his charming smile. This was a typical Roger line and Jade barely could control a roll of her eyes.

Quickly she added. "And we go there as friends, right?"

"Sure." He answered. But Jade knew that he was probably going to make a move on her anyway. He was Roger Davies after all, the notorious womanizer.

She gave him her prettiest smile as she stood up from the table again. "See you in class, Roger." He gave her a small nod and watched her walk away.

Jade had just made it out of the library, a smile still plastered on her face, when Blaise turned up on her side. Right, he had told her he was going to study here later. He took in her appearance with a suspicious glint in his eyes.

"Where were you headed? You look pretty dressed up for a trip to the library."

"Actually I just asked Roger to be my date for Slughorn's party."

"Roger Davies?" His brows shot up in surprise.. or was it disgust?

"Yes.. Something wrong with him?" Jade folded her arms in front of her chest now. She knew Blaise had a problem with Roger, but he would simply have to deal with it this time.

"Jade, I think you know exactly what's wrong with him. He'll just try to get you laid for the entire night.."

"Blaise!"

"I'm just warning you.. "

"So did _you_ ask a girl out already?" Jade quickly turned the tables around now.

"No.. Actually I thought the two of us would just go together. But now that you are going with the male slut, I think I'm going to go alone."

"Alone? You can't just go alone.." her voice sounded slightly appalled.

"Who said that? I went alone to the Yule ball, too."

"Are you serious? Were you too shy to ask someone?"

Blaise shot her one scathing look. "No, there just was nobody, whom it would not be a punishment for me to go with."

"Blaise, don't be so dramatic. You seriously don't even want to try to look for a girl?"

"No, I think I'll pass." He said dryly.

Jade cocked her eyebrow at him, but a moment later she started grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Well... in that case I think _I_ have to pick somebody for you."

"Jade.. Don't even waste your time with me. I don't want to ask any girl out." He tried to talk her out of it, but to no avail.

"I'll ask her for you. And if I really don't find a great girl, then you can go alone! Please Blaise!" he had crossed his arms in front of his chest now and Jade hopped forwards excitedly to tug on his sleeve.

"Pleeease? Pretty please with sugar on it?" she have him her prettiest eyes, battling her lashes only like she could. Blaise groaned and let his arms fall to his sides. Immediately a huge smile appeared on her face again.

"Soo.. what are your preferences? Blonde, brunette? Tall or small?"

* * *

Jade quickly got excited about her new task; she would find a gorgeous girl for Blaise. She needed to be something very special. Jade quickly decided that she wouldn't even bother to look at the Slytherin girls; most of them just were rather promiscuous and untrustworthy. Also she couldn't picture Blaise with a Hufflepuff; they were too... they were just Hufflepuffs. In Ravenclaw there certainly were a few pretty girls, but somehow they acted really conceited. They were the kind of girls, who always were cramming the lavatories during the breaks to check their makeup in the mirror. Blaise himself was already pretty conceited; he really needed a natural, down-to-earth sort of girl. But still she needed to be breathtakingly beautiful.

During the next week Jade practically stalked every pretty girl, she saw within the school. And more than once she thought she had found her; but then the girl would open her mouth and talk like an imbecile or she would sit down in the Great Hall and eat like a pig. Jade had drawn the age line at fifteen, as Blaise was turning seventeen next March, and she really did not want to look for girls below fifth year.

On Wednesday evening she sat in one of the armchairs around the fireplace with Harry and Hermione; Ron was off somewhere with Lavender. A group of fourth year girls was staring at Harry. Hermione had warned him a few days prior that one of them, namely Romilda Vane, was trying to get him to drink some disguised love potion. Girls like those were definitely out of question when it came to being Blaise's date. There was only one girl, who was not currently staring at Harry. She was sitting at the far end of the table, deeply immersed in a book. She looked a little more mature than her friends and definitely was very pretty. Her hair was cascading down in big, soft curls; it was a deep golden blonde colour.

Jade leaned over to Hermione. "Who is that?" she asked, nodding into the girl's direction.

Inconspicuously, Hermione turned around. "Oh, I think her name is Chloé. I caught her last year as she tried to smuggle dungbombs into Filch's office. That's practically all I know about her."

Jade nodded. She would keep this girl in mind even though she might be a little young; she was definitely pretty and there was simply no way that she would let Blaise go alone.

* * *

Soon enough it was only five days until Slughorn's Christmas party and slowly Jade grew nervous. If she didn't find a girl for Blaise soon, he really would have to go alone. She pondered her options on the way to the bathroom on Monday. It was lunch break and most of the bathrooms were crammed full with girls. So she made her way to the one that was almost always empty due to a certain female ghost that spooked in there.

A few minutes later Jade just wanted to push through the door of her cubicle again as she heard the door of the lavatories swing open and a high-pitched voice reverberated through the room. Undoubtedly it was Pansy Parkinson. Immediately Jade stood still inside her cubicle; she had no intention of running into Parkinson right now. She knew how it would end up anyway, but right now she had neither the energy nor the desire to hex her badly and get herself into trouble. So she just waited as the footsteps of two girls made their way over to the washbasins.

"Now, please Pans! Tell me already!" a voice said. Jade recognized the second girl as Tracey Davis; a major gossiper, only outdone by Parkinson herself. And judging by the sound of her voice she was bursting with curiosity about something Pansy was about to tell. The latter let out a false giggle and then squealed "Okay, Tracey! But you can't tell anyone! Especially not the boys! It's a secret between me and him." Now she let out another set of giggles and Jade perked up her ears. What was this _secret_ going to be about?

"Soo.." Pansy started very slowly; apparently she enjoyed teasing Tracey. "Last night when everyone had gone up to the dormitories, I stayed down in the Common Room. I just had a feeling that he might come down again like in the last few nights. I think he really has a slight case of insomnia. But not that I would complain.. So we talked again like in the last nights and then.. " Pansy broke out into her false girlish giggles again ".. and then we.. " the last words were so hushed that Jade had to concentrate to understand them ".. we went all the way!"

"Oh no, you didn't, Pans! Merlin! How was it?" Tracey sounded extremely excited now, as if Pansy had won a lottery or something. So Parkinson had gotten laid. Big deal.

Pansy continued now "Oh it was indescribable. He is such a great lover you know. Soo much better than Montague! I expect us to do it again soon."

"Oh, I always knew it Pansy. I'm so happy for you! You and Draco were just meant to be together!"

Jade felt as if someone had punched into her guts with all his might. For a moment she felt like choking and had the sudden urge to crouch down and vomit into the toilet; but she suppressed it, not wanting to give herself away. This couldn't be true! Pansy was lying. She had to be!

But now the two girls went on and on talking about what had allegedly happened and Pansy began to describe Tracey all the details. And with utter horror Jade realized that there were so many analogies between Pansy's story and her own first time with Draco. Jade supported her own body by pushing her hand against the dividing wall next to her, listening to Pansy.

Suddenly she jumped back in fright as a pale transparent head pushed through the wall; it was Moaning Myrtle. Myrtle looked at her pityingly and whispered "Are you too scared to walk out of here? I know this girl is a terrible bully! I could make her leave if you want me to! Hiding from mean girls in the toilet never is a good idea, you know."

Jade remembered Myrtle's fate and quickly shook her head, mouthing "No thanks, Myrtle!" and right in that moment the doors of the lavatories swung open once more and the footsteps of another girl made their way in. Myrtle still hovered next to Jade as the excited whispers of Parkinson and Davis stopped.

Then Pansy's shrill voice sounded through the room "What are you doing here, Gryffindor? Can't you see that we don't want to be disturbed right now?"

"I didn't know the bathrooms were off-limits now." The girl's voice sounded self-confident, yet a little defiant.

"Well, they are! Especially for dirty half-bloods like you, Van Buren! Now get out of here! And if I were you, I would do something to this mess you call hair. I'm honestly surprised that Filch hasn't mistaken you for one of his brooms yet."

Jade let out a growling noise and pushed through the cubicle doors. The new girl was one of the fourth-years Jade had seen earlier this week. She was quite tall and a little curvier than Jade herself and her untamed blonde hair framed her face quite beautifully. Her skin was very fair and her pouty mouth stood a little open. There was a certain sense of pride and self-confidence in her air, but it seemed that Pansy's blatant animosity had rendered her temporarily speechless.

The three girls turned towards Jade now and a very mean sneer made the way into Pansy's face. She knew that Jade had heard everything, she had told Tracey, and apparently she couldn't hide the spitefulness she felt at that.

Jade took a few long strides until she stood directly between the two Slytherins and the Gryffindor and although she wasn't much taller than Pansy, she towered over her and said icily "I think it would be a good idea for you two to get out of here as quickly as you can.."

Pansy still grinned at her and sneered back "Or what, Heywood?"

Jade looked at Parkinson with all the contempt, she felt right now, and hissed "Do I really need to say it out loud?"

Her hand had moved over to the wand in her pocket and finally Pansy cracked under her gaze and lowered her eyes to the floor. She grabbed Tracey and the two girls made their way out of the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind them.

Jade continued to stare at the closed door for a few moments and felt the hatred for this girl burn brightly inside of her. She would have loved to curse her badly again. She took a few steps over to one of the basins and twisted the tap open. As she splashed her face with cold water, she felt how it cooled her down again; more than she had expected.

She heard Myrtle beside her "That was pretty intimidating.. for a girl.." Giggling, she added "Oh, I will never forget the look on Parkinson's face. This time _she_ was the scared one."

Jade just ignored her and dried her face with a clean towel, which lay beside the basin. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to look into the blonde girl's face.

"Are you okay?"

Jade nodded and said "I'm fine. I just needed to stop myself from pursuing her. I really dislike this girl."

The blonde smiled and removed her hand from Jade's shoulder, saying "Well, who doesn't?"

The girl turned now and shot a quick look over into the mirror and, apparently unaware of her own movements, tried to smooth back a strand of her hair. Jade hated Pansy even a little more as she saw that.

"You know she always picks on the prettiest girls, don't you? If she says mean stuff about your hair, it's only because she's jealous that her own can never look anything like it."

The blonde turned to look at Jade and smiled a little. "You're probably right. Nevertheless it's not nice to hear such things."

Jade nodded now, letting out a sigh. "Yeah, remember who you're talking to. There are rumours flying around about me in this castle, that don't even have the slightest glimpse of truth in them. People are really nasty. You just need to hold your head up high and ignore them. They will hate you even more for that, but who cares? Pansy is a loser." Her voice was a little bitter as she tossed the towel back onto the side of the washbasin and turned to leave the lavatories.

"Well, anyways. Thank you for helping me out here, Jade. And have a nice Christmas Holiday." The blonde smiled at her now and Jade stopped dead in her tracks. The word 'Christmas' had rung a bell. What was this girl's name again.. Carmen? Christine? No.. "Your name is Chloé, isn't it?"

Apparently it was, as Chloé nodded and watched Jade expectantly.

"I guess you have already heard about the Christmas party Slughorn is throwing, haven't you?" As the other girl nodded, she went on. "And a friend of mine got invited, but isn't really bothered with finding a date. So I thought I would take matters into my own hands, but it turns out a rather difficult task."

Chloé's eyebrows had risen by now and she asked "Who is that friend of yours?"

"Blaise Zabini." Jade grinned as she saw the slightly dumbstruck expression on Chloé's face. Apparently Blaise had quite a reputation.

"Isn't that the guy who has only one facial expression? He's a little scary.. A girlfriend of mine once asked him out, but he rebuffed her rather rudely. Jade, I'm sorry. But I don't think he will .. like me. I'm no pureblood and all.."

"Oh, if he really likes you, he will not care. The only thing with Blaise is that he really needs to get to know you first, before he can act nicely. Give him a chance. I've known him for ages and he really is the most amiable guy. And very genteel and charming if he wants to be. And it's not like I'm letting you go all alone with him. I'll be there myself. He'll behave, I promise."

Chloé still looked a little unsure, but nodded slowly. And Jade smiled at her, saying "So that's settled! Let's meet up in the Common Room Friday night at eight o'clock. The boys will pick us up. Do you have a pretty dress or shall I borrow you something?"

Chloé smiled earnestly back at Jade, apparently getting a little excited now. "I think I'll have my mother send me something appropriate to school. She might be a Muggle, but her taste is excellent. Who are you going with by the way?"

Jade smiled conspiratorially "Roger Davies." And Chloé's eyebrows shot up even higher. "Not bad, Jade. Blaise Zabini _and_ Roger Davies... Not bad at all!"

Jade bowed her head a little and then turned towards the door. "See you Friday then!" She called back to the blonde, who returned "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it! Thanks for inviting me!"

* * *

Quickly Jade made her way through the corridors of the school; Pansy's words were still echoing in her mind. Had she told the truth? Or was she lying? The bell ringed, indicating the end of lunch break, Herbology would start in five minutes but Jade didn't really care. She had to find someone who could tell her the truth.

There he was! Jade sped forward and caught the boy by his robes, pulling him with her into a deserted corridor.

"Blaise! I need to talk to you!"

"Whoa, Jade." He was clearly surprised by this sudden attack. "Can't it wait? I have a class right now. And you know Snape; he doesn't appreciate late arrivals."

Jade simply shook her head and then sputtered the words out quickly. "I just overheard Parkinson in the girls' bathroom. She said she slept with Draco last night. Blaise, please tell me that it was a lie!"

Jade clutched at the front of his robes, looking up at him in a pleading way. Blaise let out a sigh and pulled her a little further into the corridor with him.

"Jade, I don't know anything about that. I don't know whether that's true."

Jade's breathing became a little shaky now. Somehow she couldn't deal with this. She could deal with Draco staying away from her; but she couldn't deal with him being with another girl. She was close to crying as she looked up into Blaise's dark eyes.

"Shh.. Calm down.." his deep voice was soothing as he took her small face in his hands. "I'll get to know the truth."

"Do you _think_ it's true?"

Blaise sighed again; clearly he was unhappy with this situation."Jade.. in Slytherin things are a little different. Everybody fools around with everybody. When you're a sixth or seventh-year boy you practically can choose freely which girl you'd like to be with. And you know Malfoy. He's always been the most prestigious of the boys; the girls practically drooled after him... And Pansy.. I mean, _her _Chamber of Secrets has been opened a lot of times.. I can tell you that much.."

"So you think it's true?" Her voice shot up a few notches higher as she said this.

But Blaise shook his head. "I don't know. If I'm honest I think he never really liked Pansy in that way. Even on the night of the Yule ball he ditched her to get to know another one of those French girls from Beauxbaton more intimately."

"Another one?" Well, now she was simply bordering on shrill.

Blaise hands took hold of her shoulders now. "Jade, there's one thing you've got to understand. Malfoy was different before you arrived at the castle. He never treated any girl with respect; they would throw themselves at him and he would only set up his trademark smirk and let them make complete fools of themselves; let them run into the open knife.

"You remember how I always suddenly turned up from nowhere whenever you met up to study with him? I was so protective of you, because I feared that he would treat you like he treated all the girls before you...But he didn't."

Jade nodded, remembering the way Blaise had acted at that time."And now he might have gone back to his old ways?"

"Actually I doubt that.. Have you seen him lately? Well, I guess you haven't, but he looks like he's been to hell and back. I don't even recognize him anymore. He used to be the Slytherin Prince with his cronies and his girls; so full of himself and always boasting about his father and his wealth. But that boy is dead and gone. He already had changed when he returned from his summer holidays last year; and then he met you.."

Blaise looked at her and a small smile played along his lips. After a moment he went on.

"So during the last weeks his crowd of admirers has kept on shrinking. Even Crabbe has started to rebel against Malfoy's authority. A few girls keep on trying their luck with him, especially Pansy, but he just ignores them, like he ignores pretty much everybody these days. All those years you were the only girl I ever really saw him with."

Jade couldn't help but smile at that. It was a good feeling to think that she had been something special to Draco; just like he had been something special to her. Blaise watched her with a sudden frown on his dark face.

"But Jade, please get him out of your head. I'm sorry that I have to break this to you, but the guy is completely fucked up. His eyes are dead; he looks like a man who's got nothing to lose. And those people are always the most dangerous.. I feel that there's something bubbling under his cold facade as if he might explode any minute.. And Jade" he pulled her closer now and whispered those next words. " .. I think he's a Death Eater. He tries to conceal it; wears long sleeves, only changes his clothes when he's completely alone. But I've seen him wince several times when something got near his left arm... " Blaise stared into Jade eyes as if he was realizing something. "Wait.. you already knew that!"

Jade's lack of reaction had apparently betrayed her. She stared back blankly into the boy's eyes as he let go of her.

"You knew it the whole time! And still you wanted to stick with him! I can't believe it!" Blaise took a few steps back now and shook his head. Then he turned around and walked away.

"Blaise!"

But he ignored her and after a few seconds he had vanished. Jade sighed. Well, now she still didn't know if Pansy was telling the truth _and_ she had gotten into a fight with her best friend. What a great day! Begrudgingly she made her way down to the greenhouses.

* * *

"Oh Jade, you can't be serious."

Jade was sitting next to Blaise on a bench inside the large courtyard during their lunch break the next day. He had still been angry at her that morning and so Jade had decided she would ease up his mood by showing him his beautiful date for the party. But apparently it had been a complete waste of effort as Blaise was staring viciously at the blonde now, who was standing across from them in a group of her girlfriends.

"What was her last name again? Van Buren? Never heard of it! Is she Muggle-born?" Jade saw how his nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Blaise, _you_ can't be serious!"

"So is she?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask. But I think she's half-blood."

Blaise snorted disapprovingly. It angered Jade. First of all, if it was that big of a deal for him, he should have told her beforehand. But moreover it really shouldn't be a big deal at all!

"Blaise, I can't believe you are this prejudiced. You can't judge her because of her magical ancestry!"

"Her _non-magical_ ancestry." Blaise corrected her and Jade let out a low hissing noise. She turned to look into his grim face. She never had seen him with this attitude, but then again she never had tried to hook him up with a girl.

"So what are you saying, Blaise? You wouldn't be friends with _me_, if I wasn't pureblood?"

He shook his head now. "Jade, 'being friends' is something different. You want me to go out with her...And don't look at me as if I was saying the Unthinkable! You don't really think that Malfoy had even so much as shot you a second glance if he had not known your last name!"

Jade froze; she considered this a low blow. Her gaze travelled along the courtyard; she had the uncomfortable feeling that Chloé had witnessed Blaise's reaction.

"So you're stooping down on his level now, Blaise?" she asked after a moment, her voice icy.

He just opened his mouth, but no sound came out of it. "You know what Blaise, you are going to take Chloé out on Friday and there is nothing you can do about it. Deal with it." She said fiercely.

Blaise's face looked a little surprised; his eyebrows shot up. "What makes you so sure about that?"

"I'll see to it." There was a hard, blazing look on Jade's face. This was obviously a hidden threat. She stood up now and shot him one last look. "You really should reconsider your principles."

"Well, I don't like principles.. I prefer prejudices." He called after her; his tone was very sarcastic and Jade just shook her head and left the courtyard.

* * *

As she walked into the Great Hall for dinner a little earlier than usual that night, she got yet another unpleasant surprise: over at the Slytherin table Draco was staring down at his plate. Her stomach clenched as she saw him, but still she made her feet walk over to her place at the Gryffindor table. She sat down next to Hermione, but suddenly her appetite had gone astray. She pondered whether she should turn her eyes up to look at him; she wanted to.. but she was afraid at the same time. She felt how Hermione laid her arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer, completely aware why Jade hadn't touched any of the dishes yet.

"He's staring at you, Jade."

And just as Jade turned her eyes up to look at him, he was lowering his gaze quickly back onto his plate. But apparently his appetite was just as big as hers as he merely picked on his food a little.

Only a few seconds later Jade saw a group of girls approach the Slytherin table out of the corner of her eye; Parkinson was at their front. Now she couldn't stop herself from looking. If Parkinson's story really was true, Jade might see proof of it in a minute.

Determinedly Parkinson made her way over to Draco and sat down right next to him. At first the boy didn't even turn to look at her, but kept on staring down at his plate apathetically. Now Parkinson grinned at one of her girlfriends and then leaned over. Jade couldn't see it, but she imagined Pansy's hand on Draco's thigh. And even though it hurt her, she couldn't stop looking as Pansy leaned even closer to him now and he eventually raised his eyes up to look at the girl.

A few seats further down the Slytherin table, Jade caught Blaise's eyes. Curtly he nodded towards her and then turned his back towards Draco and Pansy, taking out his wand. Grinning evilly, he flicked it over his shoulder and with a sudden crash Pansy toppled backwards from her seat, knocking over Draco's plate during her fall. As Pansy landed on the floor on her behind, Draco's food flew through the air, splattering all over his robes. Fiercely, he threw his knife and fork down onto the table and stood up. His face looked furious as he spat something at Pansy. Jade thought his hand had twitched towards his wand for the fraction of a moment. But then he rushed from the Great Hall.

Jade's eyes turned back towards Blaise now, who was still grinning and now raising his glass in her direction. Jade just shook her head absentmindedly, but then she smiled at him and saw his eyes twinkle back at her. After dinner they met outside in the Entrance Hall.

Blaise was still grinning. "Oh, I just love being mean. Mean and sneaky at the same time."

Jade laughed and looked up in his handsome face. She was glad they weren't fighting anymore. She knew that his actions were an indirect apology. It was easier for him this way than to really apologize to her.

"But Blaise, don't you think that was a little immature?"

"No. It would be immature if _you_ did it. But I see it as my personal obligation to make their lives living hell from now on. And I think I'll be quite good at it. Although I wonder why Malfoy didn't say anything. I'm sure he noticed that a spell soared past him. I mean obviously Pansy didn't, but she's too thick to notice it anyway; I could probably hex her right in her face and she wouldn't get the message. But Malfoy.."

"Maybe he's afraid that you might punch out his teeth again." Jade offered with an innocent smile.

"Well, that was just in the heat of the moment.." he smiled sheepishly.

Jade smiled back at him, feeling very fond of the boy in front of her. "Alright Blaise, Hermione is waiting. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"See you around, kid."

With a smile Jade turned around and followed Hermione up the marble staircase; as she had reached the landing she turned around once more. Blaise was still standing in the middle of the Entrance Hall, towering over the mass of students that streamed out and into the Great Hall for dinner. His gaze was fixed on a point ahead of Jade and there was a curious glint in his dark eyes.

What was he looking at? Jade turned around and saw Chloé strolling down the corridor. Well, that was interesting..

The blonde smiled at her as she approached and then walked down the stairs into the Entrance Hall with her girlfriends at her sides. Jade couldn't surpress a grin as she followed Hermione up to the Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

_A/N: I hope you liked the Chapter :) I'm really curious about your thoughts on this, so please do review ;)_


	31. Chapter 31

_A/N: Okay, first of all I really have to thank you for your amazing reviews! You guys seriously rock :D.. I still get excited every single time when I see that someone left me a review ;) And I'm so happy that some of you have taken to a fondness of Blaise :) I really like his character, too!.. So let's go on with the story.._

* * *

On Wednesday afternoon Jade was working in the library with Hermione. They shared a table together and were almost completely hidden from view behind a huge pile of books. Hushed chattering carried over from the table across from them; a group of fourth-year Gryffindors, including Demelza and Chloé, was working on some essays for Professor Snape. Jade herself was still brooding over her term paper about portkeys and just as she crossed out some ill-written lines, she saw a dark figure approach out of the corner of her eyes. It was Blaise; he saw her and quickly strode over to sit down on the bench next to her. For a moment he simply said nothing and stared across the room. Jade had a feeling she knew what was coming now. So she pulled one of the large books closer towards her and tried to look as deeply immersed in it as she could muster.

After a moment she could hear Blaise whisper "You know, I think her hair looks rather unkempt." He was obviously talking about Chloé. Jade just ignored him and continued flipping the pages of her book.

"And her mouth.. she looks as if she was pouting constantly." Jade rolled her eyes; she couldn't find what she was searching for in the book. She opened it up at the back and searched the index.

"And there's something wrong with her eyes.. " Still ignoring him, she trailed down the columns and columns of keywords.

"Now that I look at her properly, she looks a little chubby.." Snapping her book shut rather fiercely, Jade turned to stare at Blaise incredulously.

"Excuse me? She has a beautiful figure!"

"Well, you are _way_ skinnier.." he muttered.

"Blaise, it's not about being skinny. It's about being healthy and having nice proportions. People like you drive beautiful girls into having eating disorders! You're just afraid you can't handle it!"

"No, I'm not!" he wanted to go on, but Jade turned her face back to her book and waved her hand dismissively. Blaise snorted in annoyance and stood up, leaving the library in quick strides.

As soon as he had left from view, Jade turned to look up at Hermione, who seemed to be utterly bemused by Blaise's behaviour.

"He really seems to like her, doesn't he?" Hermione whispered, probably one of the only students who really respected the librarian's rules at all times.

"Are you being sarcastic?" Jade whispered back, her brows knitted together. "I mean, I _personally_ do not think that any of his criticism was warranted. But maybe he really thinks like that.. I mean taste does vary.."

But Hermione only shook her head. "Believe me, I know this behaviour. He thinks she is beautiful, but he just doesn't want to acknowledge it. So he goes and tries to find every little flaw about her and pick on it. But I saw the look in his eye.."

Jade and Hermione looked at each other, shaking their heads, and uttered the same word at exactly the same time. "Boys."

* * *

Finally it was Friday and after her last lesson Jade made her way up to the West Tower of the castle. The whole week she had been waiting for a certain package to arrive and now it really was getting a little late. Her aunt had promised to send one of Jade's dresses for the party by owl in her last letter on Saturday; but as Jade knew Lizzy and she had probably send it on its way last minute. She walked through the corridors of the school and drew her robes closer to her body; it was freezing cold inside the ancient stone walls of the castle.

A few minutes later she entered the Owlery; it was a circular room with an incredibly high ceiling and a cold breeze flowed in through the glass-less windows. On the perches, which rose up to the top of the tower, many sleepy owls were nestled under their wings and a few silent hoots could be heard. Carefully Jade navigated her way over the floor, which was completely covered in straw, and avoided stepping on owl droppings or regurgitated skeletons of mice. She looked around in the chamber and finally recognized four of their brown family owls sitting high up on a perch, a package under their claws. Carefully she made her way up the slippery landing, which was covered in ice.

"Hey you.." she spoke softly to the four owls as soon as she had reached them and got out a few treats from the pocket of her robes. One by one the owls hopped forward, took a treat, stayed for a small pet and then took off through the window again. Jade took the package into her hands; it was heavier than she had expected. Slowly she made her way down the stairs again, peering over the edge of the package to see where she was setting her feet. As she had reached the landing of the stairs the door to the Owlery banged open, making her jump back in surprise. She slipped on the icy stairs and her feet flew out from under her body; the package soared through the air and Jade landed very ungracefully in the straw.. right on her bum.

She was still checking if she hadn't broken any of her bones as she heard a faint snickering.

"Well, _that_ wouldn't have happened if you weren't this jumpy all the time." The person, who had made her fall down the stairs in such inelegant a manner, was Blaise. He bent down to pick up her package as Jade slowly got up from the floor.

The good news was that she was positive that she hadn't broken anything; well, the bad news was that she was very certain that she had just full-on grasped into owl droppings as she had pushed herself up from the floor. Yes, she definitely had.

Blaise saw and started snickering again. _Ugh_.. Jade wrinkled her nose in disgust. She couldn't pull out her wand like this and so she offered Blaise her dirty palms.

"Please, Blaise! Can you get that off?"

With a grin Blaise pulled out his wand and muttered "Tergeo!" and instantly Jade's hands were clean again. "Turn around, Jade. I think you've got some more on your back."

Jade did as she was told and heard him laugh again. As if it had been _that_ funny... "Alright, you're clean again... Well, except that cute little mouse skeleton that's still hanging from the back of your robes."

Jade let out a high-pitched shriek now, completely grossed out. "Get it off, Blaise!"

He let out a deep laugh. "I was kidding... But Merlin, my ears!"

She turned around and glowered at him. "Not funny.." She grumbled as she took a few steps towards him and snatched her package out of his hands.

"Oh, I couldn't resist. You're such an easy mark." He laughed at her. "Your dress finally arrived?" Jade nodded and Blaise went on. "I just wanted to send this letter to mother. Explain why I'm going to the Christmas Party with a half-blood and not with you." He shot her a slightly dirty look and then went up the stairs to call down his eagle owl. Immediately it soared down upon Blaise's outstretched arm and held out its leg. While he was attaching his letter to it, Jade asked him "Does she really care about it?"

The boy went over to one of the windows and the owl took off from his arm. He stared out after it and let out a sigh; then he nodded.

"It's important to her. Of course she knows that going to a party together doesn't really mean anything. But if it ever did, then the girl shouldn't be a half-blood."

"But..."

Blaise interrupted her quickly. "Jade, I know your thoughts on this. We've talked about it a lot of times. But if my mother thinks like this, nothing can change it. And after all I'm only taking the girl out once, it's not like I'm marrying her. It shouldn't be a big deal."

He made his way down the stairs now; Jade couldn't help but think that he looked a little gloomier than usual. Should she feel guilty for picking out a half-blood and putting him in this situation? Well, it wasn't her fault that his mother still clung to these old prejudices..

"So you're picking us up at eight right?" She asked him and he nodded, but didn't say anything. So Jade continued. "Well, I think I really have to get going now. I need to get ready for the party."

He looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression. "Jade.. it's not even five."

She smiled back at him. "Well, I want to look pretty for tonight.. And I promised Hermione to do her hair.." she added as an after-thought.

"Well, that explains a lot." He chuckled and went to open the door of the Owlery for her. Jade hadn't even made it through, when she heard rushed footsteps and a heavily panting Argus Filch appeared in the doorway.

Suspiciously he eyed the package in her arms. "Trying to smuggle in some dark objects, aren't we?"

* * *

A few minutes and several sharp pokes with Filch's Secrecy Sensor later Jade made her way up to the Gryffindor Tower. Of course, three hours were a pretty long time to get ready for a party, but Jade just wanted to look extra beautiful for tonight. And so as she had entered her dormitory, she started with a nice relaxing bath and scrubbed every non-existent remainder of owl droppings from her body until she glowed. Then she did her makeup, but kept it as light as she always did; she just didn't like a full face of makeup. But she did spend some amount of time on her hair until it was up in a romantic, yet slightly messy updo. She was still wearing her bathrobe as she approached the package once more. It hadn't yet been opened. With a wave of her wand it unwrapped itself and Jade could see that her aunt hadn't just send the dress. She had added matching heels and something else, a little velvet box lay on the bottom of the parcel.

Jade had just picked it up as Hermione came bustling in through the door, carrying her own dress and her bag with her.

"Oh, you look beautiful, Jade." She smiled. "Even in that bathrobe.. What is that you have there?"

"I just wanted to look. It's from my aunt."

Hermione peeked over Jade's shoulder as she opened the small box. In it lay a small piece of parchment with Lizzy's neat hand writing upon it.

_This was one of your mother's, Jade. I thought you'd like to wear it for tonight. Hope you have a great time!_

_Lizzy xx_

_P.S: You'd better not lose it!_

As Jade removed the piece of parchment, her and Hermione's breathing stopped for a few seconds. In the box lay the most breath-taking diamond necklace, she had ever seen. It was definitely goblin-made. She didn't even remember having seen it in her mother's jewellery collection; maybe her aunt had kept it at a safer place. It had probably been a gift from her dad. She smiled as she touched one of the sparkling stones. Then she shut the box again and turned towards Hermione.

"So.. and now to you." Jade said and the other girl smiled at her and waved her wand through the air, making a chair and a vanity appear from thin air. Hermione took a few strides and sat down on the chair and opened her bag, pulling out three bottles of _Sleekeazy's Hair Potion_. She piled them up on the table on front of her and grinned at Jade. "I came prepared!"

Laughing at Hermione's enthusiasm Jade set to work.

* * *

Two hours later the girls made their way down to the Gryffindor Common Room. Jade had tamed Hermione's hair into a very elegant chignon and as the girl stepped into the middle of the room, Jade could hear a weird half-smacking, half-slurping noise and turned to see Ron freeing his face of Lavender to stare at them. Hermione was fully aware and smiled even brighter as McLaggen stood up from his armchair over by the fireplace and made his way towards her.

Ron's ears turned red as McLaggen kissed Hermione on the cheek and slung his arm around her waist; Lavender was trying hard to get his attention back on their snogging-feast, but to no avail. As Jade's eyes trailed around the room she could see Chloé in excited bubble of young witches. Of course, for a fourth-year it was a pretty big deal to be asked out by one of the 'older guys'. The blonde made her way towards Jade now. She wore a figure-hugging dress and her hair flowed freely down her shoulders. And Jade had to say that if she were a guy, she would definitely fall in love with this girl tonight.

"Oh Jade, that dress is to die for!" Chloé smiled at her and Jade beamed back at the girl.

"Well, you don't look that bad yourself!" she said with a twinkle and noticed now that she was the only girl who wore a dress that did not reach the floor, but merely ended above her knees. She just had thought that a real ball gown would be much too fancy for a Christmas Party in a Professor's office. Her dress was strapless and it was more of pretty and romantic type of dress, while Chloé was wearing one of the hot bombshell type, which really showed that Blaise had no reason to call her chubby.

Jade threw Mrs Zabini's cape around her shoulders and looked around her to see whether they were complete; Harry had already left earlier to pick up Luna in the Entrance Hall and when Ginny and Dean had joined the group, they made their way out of the portrait hole. Jade noticed that Ginny looked a little grumpier than usual and shot Dean an annoyed stare as he helped her through the portrait hole. Somehow it really wasn't a good time for romance at the moment.

As Jade stepped through the portrait hole herself she could already see Roger and Blaise standing down at the landing of the staircase, which led up to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Roger beamed at her as she saw her and turned into her direction. He really did look rather handsome tonight. Blaise however was leaning against the banister of the staircase, his arms folded in front of his chest and his eyes focused on the back of Roger's head in a vicious glare. He wore an incredibly expensive-looking set of dress robes and as he pushed himself away from the banister, his tall figure actually looked pretty impressive.

"Merlin, Jade!" Roger said as he pulled her into a hug. "I think you're the most beautiful date I ever had."

Jade smiled at him and thanked him for the compliment; but he had just said 'date', right? What had happened to 'We're going as friends.'? Jade could see Blaise's stare turn even more poisonous now and somehow she found his protectiveness slightly amusing. She grinned as she approached him and just wanted to introduce Chloé, when Blaise's hands snaked around her waist and pulled her in close; he turned her away from Roger.

He leaned in further and mumbled into her ear. "Jade, I hate this guy. If he tries anything with you tonight, I might have to hex him."

"Blaise, this is so unnecessary right now!" she whispered back to him quickly and moved out of his embrace. She didn't want Chloé to get a wrong idea about their friendship.

Blaise's dark eyes travelled down her face now; then his eyebrows shot up high. He grinned at her. "I see you didn't chose to wear my necklace for the occasion.. My mother would probably eat her heart out if she saw those stones."

Jade only smiled at him and then turned around to Chloé. She introduced the two of them officially now and was quite surprised at how chivalrous Blaise behaved; he even offered her his arm as they set off for the party.

Roger and Jade followed the others through the corridors of the castle and Jade eyed Blaise's back scrutinizing. Chloé was walking right next to him, her arm hooked into his; the two of them made a gorgeous couple. It might even be the fact that Blaise was so dark and Chloé was so fair that made them look so good together. And both of them were rather tall.. and handsome overall. She heard Chloé let out a pleasant little laugh at one of Blaise's comments; he really could be wickedly funny when he wanted to.

Quickly Jade stirred up from her reverie and concentrated on what Roger was telling her again, something about the guests Slughorn had invited. She didn't know why, but somehow she would much rather be on Chloé and Blaise's date tonight than on her own. It just seemed so much more interesting. But still she smiled at the boy next to her as they made their way through the overly decorated castle. A few minutes later they overtook Hermione and McLaggen, which was mainly due to the fact that McLaggen had miraculously stopped under every branch of mistletoe on their way. Roger snickered as they passed and Jade shot Hermione a sympathetic look.

Finally they reached the corridor of Slughorn's office and Jade could already hear laughter, music and loud chattering, which grew louder the closer they got. Jade stepped inside the room after Chloé and was surprised how much different it looked from the usual teacher's offices. Every wall inside the room was covered with emerald, crimson and gold hangings and it gave the impression as if they were celebrating in a giant tent. The room was crowded and stuffy with several thick hazes of pipe smoke and a dim red light glimmered through the room, emitting from a ornate golden lamp that hang in the middle of the ceiling.

As Roger took her cape to hang it up on the coat rack, Jade realized that she didn't recognize most of the faces within the office. There were only a few members of the current Slug Club and their dates, but most of the other guests were already adults. She saw a few house-elves navigating their way through the crowd, carrying heavily loaded silver platters with snacks.

"I think we'll take a turn about the room." Blaise muttered to her and then he left with Chloé, quickly disappearing inside the throng of guests. Jade smiled; it was a good sign that he wanted to be alone with the girl. She had actually feared that she would end up entertaining the blonde if Blaise didn't like her.

"Jade?" she turned around to look who had called her. It was McLaggen. "Have you seen Hermione? She seems to have disappeared!"

For the first moment Jade was a little worried, but then she saw the hem of Hermione's dress peek out from behind the coat rack. She suppressed a laugh.

"Actually, I think she just saw an old friend of hers, she left in that direction." Vaguely Jade motioned to her right and McLaggen nodded and left.

As Hermione came out from behind her hiding spot, Jade grinned at her. "Hermione, don't you think it's a little unfair to hide from him?"

"Hide from whom? I don't know what you're referring to. I was just hanging up my cloak." She smiled at Jade innocently. "I think I'll go search Harry now. See you later, Jade!"

And with those words she left. Roger appeared to her side again. "Shall we go get drinks?" he asked and Jade nodded; she followed him into the crowd. They passed a nice place by a window and Roger told Jade to wait for him there, while he went to get them something to drink.

So Jade stayed behind and rested her hand on the window ledge. Her eyes trailed along the room, but she couldn't see any of her friends. A few male guests grinned at her as they passed, but Jade didn't really return their smile. It took only a few minutes and a tall, slightly haggard looking man finally dared to approach her. He was deadly pale and completely dressed in black. His facial features looked kind of aristocratic and his chin-long hair was shiny and black.

For a moment he just stood in front of her and watched her intently through his amber eyes; and Jade stared back at him, a little mesmerized. There was something about him, which was incredibly captivating and drew her in. Yet his aura was somehow foreboding and dark.

He inclined his head now and opened his mouth to speak softly to her. His voice was very smooth and pleasant.

"I couldn't help but notice you... You smell.. _divine_."

Well, this was probably the weirdest thing Jade had heard in a long time. He had smelled her? In this room?

"Well, you must have a very fine nose then." She offered quietly.

He smirked at her and she felt his eyes travel down her face. Was he staring at her cleavage? No, he was looking a little higher than her chest. Maybe at her necklace? He took a step closer towards her and smoothed his hair back with an elegant gesture.

"Not really.." he whispered. "Your scent lingers in the entire room."

Okay, this was officially getting odd now. Granted she had used quite some perfume tonight; but definitely not THIS much. His golden eyes flicked quickly from her face and down her body again. Now he moistened his lips with his tongue. Somehow Jade had the sudden urge to take to her heels and run for it; this guy looked as if he was ready to _gorge_ her. She pulled her hand back to her body but her feet were somehow glued to the floor.

Suddenly a strong arm was wrapped around her waist from behind. For the fragment of a moment Jade thought it was Draco. But of course it wasn't. It was Roger. Why was he suddenly touching her like this? Was he trying to pretend to be her boyfriend so other men wouldn't hit on her?

Now she felt him move closer behind her and lower his mouth to her ear.

"Jade.. he's a vampire." Roger whispered.

Jade felt her eyes grow larger and her body stiffen. A vampire? Here? Oh Merlin. She pressed herself closer into Roger's chest in an attempt to increase the space between the stranger and her body. She should have known that there was something off with this guy. But that was the thing about vampires: even though a part of you knew that something wasn't alright, their allure was too strong to let you think properly.

The vampire threw a rather annoyed look over at Roger and then smiled charmingly at Jade, showing off rather forbidden looking canine teeth.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dorian Wilde. You might have heard of me under the alias of _Sanguini_."

Of course she had! He was one of the rather well-known of his kind and his name had been in the newspapers quite often. Jade knew that he was one of the vampires who had fought vigorously for their rights within the Magical Community, without ever achieving even the slightest success.

She took the hand, he offered her, and shook it confidently. She wouldn't let herself be intimidated just because he would like to have her as desert. And if she wanted to, _her_ fangs could definitely be even more dangerous than his. This thought brought a bold smile to her face.

"Jade Heywood. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr Wilde."

"Please, call me Dorian." Wilde let go of her hand reluctantly and continued to stare at her.

"So Dorian, how does a vampire get invited to such a party?"

Roger still stood right behind her, but his grip on her waist had slackened. With his other hand he offered Jade a drink, which she accepted and took a sip. This was definitely a very strong punch; she shouldn't have more than a glass of this.

Wilde was watching her with his head cocked to the side and, if Jade was completely honest with herself, his weird amber eyes scared her. They looked dangerous. But nothing could really happen inside a room full of wizards, could it?

"A friend of mine asked me to accompany him." His pronunciation of the word 'friend' made Jade think that whoever this person was, he was far from a friend of Wilde's. He took a moment and let his eyes wander through the room with a very bored expression on his face. The first few buttons of his silken shirt were open and Jade couldn't help but think that he looked very sexy. In contrast to the boys at school, he was a grown-up man (and probably older than a few hundred years..) and he had this aura of self-confidence around him, which only came with experience.

Finally he turned to look at Jade again and he carried on in his smooth voice.

"Excuse me, if I seem too bold, Miss Heywood, I can't help but feel that there is something very special about you."

Jade didn't know whether to take this as a compliment. He was basically saying that from all the people inside the room, he wanted to suck her blood first. But then she sent a dazzling smile at him, feeling as if she was trying to flirt with a wolf. Dorian leaned closer now.

"If you ever consider immortality as a possible path for you, please don't be afraid to let me know. It would be a honour for me to do it. But maybe you should wait one or two years, until your body is in full bloom..." Well, now he was definitely staring at her cleavage.

"That's enough!" Roger interrupted and pulled Jade in closer again. Wilde stared at him viciously and his look made goose bumps erupt on Jade's skin. But now Roger really proved why the Sorting Hat had considered putting him into Gryffindor as he didn't waver under Wilde's gaze, but instead shouted over to a group of wizards.

"Mr Worple, I think your beast is running wild!" Sanguini looked furious, but Roger ignored him and pulled Jade away with him. They made their way through the crowded room and Jade could feel that Roger was slightly sour.

"I can't believe they let a vampire into the school! Did you see the way he looked at you? As if he wanted to eat you! Disgusting!"

He was still fuming and pulling Jade along with him when they ran directly into a very round-bellied man. Professor Slughorn's hat was a little askew and he carried an almost empty glass of mead in his hands as he caught sight of them.

"Jade Heywood! My dear girl! Such a pleasure to have you here tonight! And you brought Richard!" he hiccupped slightly as he beamed at her.

"Roger, sir." The boy corrected him.

"Ah, yes, that's right! That's right!" He turned his blood-shot eyes to look at Jade again. "I have to say Miss Heywood, your Felix Felicis was sublime. I was a little worried that you reached it in on last notice, but the quality of the potion was unique!" he twinkled at her. "I always knew that the niece of Oscar Heywood would have it in her veins. Oh, yes."

Jade felt slightly guilty at his praise. After she had completely ruined her first attempt of the potion she had started over; this time with the Prince's tips. And like a miracle the potion had almost brewed itself. Whoever this Prince person was, he was a genius when it came to potions.

"Well, I wonder Miss Heywood." Slughorn said and he gestured to the wizard on his right. "Have you met Ambrosius Flume? Our favourite source for _Sugar-Spun Quills _and_ Treacle Fudge, _Honeydukes, was built up by Ambrosius!"

And now a seemingly endless series of handshakes and introductions was initiated. Within a few minutes Professor Slughorn introduced Jade and Roger to more people than Jade had met in the entire last year. A few of them knew her uncle and aunt and asked her about their well-being. Jade noticed that Roger was putting his conversing skills into practice now and was quickly involved in several heated discussions. She stayed at his side for what felt like hours (but probably wasn't even half an hour), and merely threw in a little comment here and there. She realized that Roger really took up the opportunity to become a little more well-connected within the magical community. It was their last year of school after all, so it wouldn't hurt to do this. But somehow Jade wasn't interested. All the people, she had met tonight, bored her. Nothing caught her attention and from all the standing her lower back slowly started to hurt.

When the wizards, Roger had been talking to, finally excused themselves to go to the buffet, Jade used the opportunity to look around for a place to sit down. She saw a small couch over in a corner of the office.

"Roger? Would you like to sit down for a minute? The couch over there is free, you see." She motioned in the direction and Roger nodded.

"Sure." Then he took her hand and pulled her after him through the crowd.

"Did you get bored by our conversation? I'm sorry I paid so little attention to you. I'll make up for it." He said to her as they had almost reached the little corner.

"No, I just need to sit down for a moment. Actually my back hurts a little."

Roger turned towards her now and grinned. "Maybe your wings are too heavy."

Jade needed a moment to really understand what he had been saying. Then she looked at him, an incredulous expression on her face. "Roger, that was the worst line I ever heard! Even for your standards that was bad!"

He let out a hearty laugh and his eyes twinkled at her. Then he sat down on the couch and pulled Jade down onto his lap by her hand.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't answer, but started to massage her lower back in circles exactly where the pain was. It felt indescribably good. He really had gifted hands. Or maybe it was practice. She didn't really care.

"Oh, that feels so good.." she purred. Her eyes were closed now.

"Yeah, I get that all the time." he said in her ear; judging by the tone of his voice he was grinning.

She opened her eyes now and looked at him. He was pretty close by now and as she looked him in the eye, she could sense that he hadn't 'just friends' in mind for tonight. Sooner or later he would be going in for the kill... or for a kiss. And even though he looked incredibly handsome and was a nice guy, the sparks just weren't flying. There was no heat. She could sit on his lap and let him massage her entire body and no fire would ignite inside her. She remembered how Draco had made her body burn with just one simple look. They didn't even compare.

So how far should she let Roger go? How far was even fair? Should she really prove to herself that she was moving on from Draco by letting another boy kiss her? A boy she didn't even like in that way? A boy that maybe could get hurt himself? Of course Roger was a big boy in a way. He had probably kissed many, many girls already. But still Jade would feel bad if she toyed with him like that.

"Where are your thoughts, love?" he asked her and Jade focused her eyes on his face again.

"Roger, I think.. " but then she got interrupted by a large group of wizards, who drew some more chairs over to the couch and one of them sat down right next to Roger and Jade. Apparently they were just in the middle of a heated debate and didn't even acknowledge the two students, who had been interrupted by their sudden arrival.

The wizard next to Roger blew a large cloud of smoke into Jade's face now. It burned in her eyes and made her cough. Roger looked at the man with a very annoyed expression.

"Jade, do you want to go outside for a minute? Catch some fresh air?" he asked her.

"Please!" she answered in between coughs.

* * *

A moment later they stepped out of the office and wandered down the corridor. Fresh air filled her lungs now, but Jade felt a cold breeze blow through the castle and pulled her cape closer around her. They wandered through the hallways and talked a little about the different guests of the party. Jade might have imagined it, but somehow she thought she heard steps behind them. One time she turned to look, but there was nobody; it might have been the echo of their own steps after all.

After a few minutes they reached a little inner courtyard, which was buried under snow and brightly lit by the full moon. Roger halted and leaned against one of the pillars with his back. He looked very handsome in the faint light.

"Are you cold?" he asked her now, seeing how she shivered slightly. And Jade nodded; even though the cape kept her upper body warm, the rest of her was freezing.

Slowly Roger reached out with his hands and started rubbing Jade's arms in an attempt to warm her up. But her lips only started to tremble more from the cold, which made Roger laugh and pull his own cloak from around his shoulders.

Jade shook her head. "No, you are going to freeze to death."

He smiled, making him look even more handsome, as he laid his cloak around her shoulders and shook his head. "It's not even that cold out here. You're just a cissy." he chuckled.

Jade smiled up at him, registering that he suddenly was very close. His hands still lay on her shoulders and she felt one travel up now to hold her neck.

"Why is your skin so soft?" He whispered now.

Jade registered his next movements as if they were in slow motion; his left hand travelled a little down her back, while his right one came up to caress her jaw-line. Slowly he leaned in now, his eyes fixed on her lips. Jade felt as if she had frozen on the spot; her eyes were wide open as Roger came even closer now, tilting his head a little. She hadn't yet decided whether to turn her head to the side and reject him or to really let him kiss her as a loud cracking noise ripped through the silence of the night. A second later there was an explosion of light right in Jade's face. She yanked away in surprise and saw how Roger was knocked over backwards, landing hard on the floor. Swiftly Jade pulled out her wand and turned into the direction from where the spell had come; but there was nobody. She put up a Shield Charm just in case the person was hiding and going to attack again; then she turned to Roger.

He sat on the floor, groaning, and held his face in his hands. As Jade got nearer, she blew some air through her teeth; Roger looked horrible. It must have been some sort of Stinging Charm, as his face was currently contorted and swollen. She knelt down in front of him.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

He nodded, apparently not able to speak without some intense amount of pain. Jade raised her wand; she hadn't dealt with anything like that yet, but she still could give it a try. A moment later his face still looked strangely contorted, but the swelling and redness had gone down. He let out a breath.

"Thank you. That's much better already."

"I'm sorry that I can't do more." Somehow Jade felt incredibly guilty, as if he had been hurt because of her. Roger stood up now and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

"Did you see who it was?" he asked her.

Jade shook her head. "I have no idea."

"Well, I do have one." Roger's voice sounded annoyed. "I bet Zabini followed us here. I saw the look he gave me, when we left the party."

Jade wasn't sure he was right. Blaise didn't like Roger, that much was for sure, and he had threatened to hex him earlier. But would he really follow them and do it? Especially when their faces were so close? The person, who had hexed Roger, either had a very good aim or didn't care if he hit Jade. Or maybe the hex had been aimed at her?

"I think I need to go to the Hospital Wing." He said now. "But you don't need to go with me. Just return to the party.. I'll come back as soon as Madam Pomfrey fixed this." He gestured at his face.

Jade nodded, taking his robes from her shoulders and handing them over to him. She would have accompanied him, if he wanted her to, but somehow she wanted to find Blaise now, too. And ask him if he had anything to do with this.

"You remember the way back to Slughorn's office, don't you? It's just a few corridors." Jade nodded confidently and Roger turned to leave now. "See you back in there in a moment."

As his steps echoed along the corridor, Jade made her way back past the courtyard. She had not made it very far, when a tall figure moved from behind a pillar. Her heart almost missed a beat from the shock it gave her. For a moment she didn't recognize the person and held her wand tightly in her hand. But then he stepped into the light of the moon. It was Sanguini. Jade felt a feeling of apprehension creep up her throat. Had he hexed Roger so he could get her alone? No, he couldn't have done it; vampires couldn't perform wizard magic.

"Wilde! What are you doing out here?" her voice sounded a lot more confident than she really felt like.

His tall, dark figure came closer now, blocking her way and leering down at her. "I just thought I needed some fresh air. Take a little stroll.."

He had started to walk in a circle around her and Jade couldn't help but feel a slight panic rise up inside her. What spell should she use if he attacked her? What would be the most effective? Stun him? .. He was a vampire, wasn't he? He was basically dead.. Would stunning spells even have an effect? She knew that there was a certain spell that would turn them into a heap of dust, but she had never cared to learn it.

He came to a halt in front of her again. "Don't be afraid, Miss. I'm not going to hurt you."

Jade tried to look anywhere, but in his eyes. She knew they would prevent her from thinking clearly.

"I think we should go back to the party." She heard her voice sounding a little feeble this time and cursed it inside her head.

"Are you sure?"

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him moving closer and turned towards him. She turned her face up to look at him and suddenly she wasn't so sure anymore. Suddenly she thought that he was exactly what she needed. He could make her forget everything.

She opened her mouth, but no response came out of it. Wilde was only a few feet away from her now and slowly he raised one arm to her shoulder and pushed back her cape. He let his hand wander down her arm. His skin felt cold as ice, but his touch was very gentle. She watched how his hand travelled down and caught her own. He pulled it up to his chest and closed the empty space between them.

Her eyes found his now and as she got lost in their deep amber colour, he raised her hand and bowed a little to kiss the back of it. Jade couldn't deny that it aroused her somewhat, even though she didn't want it to. She thought that it would probably be a good idea to leave now, but she couldn't.

Without ever breaking their eye contact, he turned her hand in his now and trailed slow kisses along her palm and along her wrist.. then he lingered on her pulse. And a part of Jade knew that this was probably the most stupid and dangerous thing she had done for quite a while, but still she watched him, fascinated.

He sucked a little on her skin and Jade held her breath, feeling this distinct hot feeling build up inside her. Wilde let out a low moan now and closed his eyes for a moment.

"You smell so good." He whispered, sending shivers down her spine.

Jade had never quite felt like this before. She wanted to give herself up to him immediately. He just had this pull on her and she couldn't even fight it. She moved closer to him now and placed her other hand on his chest. He still was bent over slightly and Jade's breathing sped up as she turned her face so it was directly under his.

He moved and for a moment Jade thought he was about to kiss her, but then his arm wrapped around her waist and his head moved lower. His cold cheek brushed hers. And the moment Jade realized that he was going for her throat, something very peculiar happened. Her cape flapped up to shield her neck and where it touched her skin, it felt as if it had burned her. The sudden pain awoke her from this weird state, she had been in.

What was she doing? With a very fast movement she pulled up her wand and pressed it against his neck, stopping him in mid-air.

"Get away from me!" she growled. Wilde merely looked as if she had really rained on his parade now. Jade shook her head. She couldn't believe how she could have been this stupid; she really felt like slapping herself! She had allowed him to draw her in; to charm her like he possibly charmed every girl before he bit them.

But he took a few steps backwards now, holding his hands aloft. Apparently he knew that she wasn't just holding her wand in his face for the simple joy of it.

"And we were just entering the good part. You don't really think, I would have bitten you, do you? I was just teasing.." He said in his smooth voice, smiling at her. The sight of his teeth made her feel nauseous. Jade knew that he was trying to wrap her around his finger again.

So she stepped around him, hissing. "Keep your distance from me tonight or immortality will prove to be shorter than you thought."

"Oh, you're a fiery one." He said as Jade had made a few steps down the corridor. She turned around again. "You like that?" She asked.

He smirked. "It's always so much more fun."

Jade smiled haughtily at him. "Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint." And she slashed her wand through the air and cried "Incendio!", making a high wall of fire appear in the middle of the corridor, separating the two of them.

She saw how Wilde jumped away from it and she quickly turned around and made her way down the corridor as fast as she could without running. As she finally got back into Slughorn's office she let out a breath, she had been holding, and leaned against the wall of the room.

Merlin, that had been a near thing. She knew vampires had their own dark magic about them. They weren't allowed to carry wands, but they were pretty dangerous on their own. And she had just fallen for one of their tricks. Thank Merlin, Mrs Zabini's gift had just paid for itself.

* * *

_A/N: Hope the Slug party wasn't too boring until now and you enjoyed the chapter ;) And finally I can say: The next chapter will have a Draco/Jade moment again.. finally.. It's already written.. I just need to edit it a little further.. :)_


	32. Chapter 32

_A/N: So here it goes.. I actually wanted to update tomorrow.. But I couldn't wait ;) I really want to hear your thoughts on this :D _

* * *

Jade made her way through the crowded office and looked for her friends. She could see Harry and Luna in a corner of the room, speaking to Professor Slughorn, who had thrown his arm around Snape of all people. Right in that moment a rather dishevelled looking Hermione almost bumped into her.

"Thank Merlin, Jade, there you are! Cormac practically jumped me under the mistletoe. Where is Roger?"

Quickly Jade told Hermione what had happened, including a toned down version of the vampire incident.

"You really think Blaise would do something like this? I haven't seen him during the last twenty minutes, but that doesn't say much in this room." Hermione said.

"I need to go find him right now."

Hermione nodded and the two girls made their way through the crowd. They found Blaise standing over in a group of people with Chloé by his side. He caught Jade's eye and whispered something into Chloé's ear, who nodded swiftly. Blaise stepped out of the group and Jade caught him by his sleeve and pulled him into a more secluded corner of the office. Hermione waited a few feet away from them.

"Um.. Jade? What do you have planned here?"

She looked at him quizzically and asked "What do you mean?"

Blaise chuckled and pointed up to the ceiling, where a branch of mistletoe hung. "This is the secret kissing corner, you know."

Jade only rolled her eyes. "Blaise, don't be ridiculous! Did you hex Roger a moment ago in the hallway outside?"

He raised one eyebrow of his, in a way only Blaise could, and leaned sideways against the wall. "No, why would I do that?"

"Because you don't seem to like him."

Blaise grimaced slightly and said "Alright, but that doesn't mean that I go around hexing the bloke. What were you doing outside in the hallway alone with him anyway?"

Jade didn't answer; he probably knew it already anyway. Blaise sighed and took a step closer towards her.

"Jade, please don't do that. He's not right for you. He collects women like Chocolate Frog Cards!"

Defiantly, Jade folded her arms in front of her chest and said "It's not really any of your business, Blaise. And I don't even know why you care so much. It was never such a huge deal when I went out with Draco."

But Blaise got even closer now. "Because deep down I was convinced that you were something special to Draco, no matter how much I disliked him. And I still think you really were back then. But you're nothing special to Davies. He'll just have his fun with you like with the other girls. And I'm not going to accept that! I'm not going to lose you to anybody, who isn't worthy of being with you. You deserve someone who treats you like you were the most precious being on earth."

Jade smiled at him a little bitterly. "Only that nobody would ever do that.."

And Blaise raised his hand to cup her cheek now, whispering "There are boys who would.. Just not him. Please don't mess around with this guy... I don't want to see you hurt again.."

"He can't hurt me, Blaise.." she closed her eyes now. The reason why Roger could never really hurt her was simple. She had no feelings for him.. and she never would. There was only one person who still had the power to hurt her. Jade's voice sounded feeble as she said "I'm not in love with him."

Blaise let out a sigh; Jade knew that he could sense her pain. His whisper was very close now, when he said "You still love _him_, don't you?"

This simple sentence ripped a hole into her soul and Jade turned her head to bury her face in Blaise's hand. He pulled her tightly to his chest and rocked her a little in his arms.

"Don't be sad.. " Slowly he bent down to place a little kiss on her forehead. He smelled nice; he always did.

"Can I bring you to your Tower now? Please?" he whispered into her hair.

She shook her head slightly "I need to wait for Roger. And you're here with Chloé. It would be very rude."

Blaise kept her in his arms for a small moment. Jade did not really know why she suddenly felt so sad again; but somehow the whole evening with Roger just showed her even more how much she missed Draco. He still was the only one for her. Ginny might be able to kiss other boys even though her heart was with Harry, but Jade couldn't do that. And she shouldn't push herself to move on when she wasn't ready to. And right in that moment she regretted not just going with Blaise tonight. They would have had a great time without any bad feelings. But then Blaise hadn't met Chloé. The thought made Jade smile as she pulled herself together again and looked up at her friend.

"So.. how's your date? Do I have a good taste in girls or what?" she tried to smile at him.

Blaise only smirked. "Well, luckily I'm able to say that it's better than your taste in men." He chuckled, but then his face grew serious again. "No, really. I like her. She's got something."

"Wow, Blaise" now Jade really smiled at him. "I think I never heard you say that you liked somebody."

He nodded to this, still looking serious. "Yeah, I guess there's a first time for everything." Then his gaze travelled across the room. His eyes darkened a little as he saw something, Jade didn't; his height always gave him a slight advantage over her. "Jade, you wouldn't mind if I returned to her now, would you? I think Granger's date is currently trying his luck with mine."

"No, of course not! See you later." Blaise nodded and quickly vanished in the crowd. Jade went up to Hermione, who still looked into the direction Blaise had just left. Then the girl flinched.

"Quick now Jade, I think Cormac saw us." And Hermione took her by the hand and pulled her into the crowd again. "Let's try and find Harry."

* * *

Jade stood on the tips of her toes, trying to find Harry and Luna in between the many guests and the thick hazes of pipe smoke. She turned to look at the spot where she had seen them a few moments ago and fortunately they hadn't moved. But as she saw, who was standing next to them, she felt as if all air had been knocked out of her lungs. No other than Draco Malfoy was standing there across the room, talking to Slughorn. Hermione, who had seen Jade's body go rigid, followed her gaze now and furrowed her brows. What was he doing here?

A moment later Snape broke loose from the circle around Slughorn and turned to make his way through the crowd towards the door, Draco followed closely. They walked exactly in the direction of the two girls and Jade felt her heart speed up. She fell back on her heels now and could no longer see them.

Her breathing was starting to become irregular and she couldn't help it; suddenly she felt slightly cold. She had only seen him this close once during the whole time. And she still did not feel ready to face him, she was afraid of what might happen to her. But she stood still and waited as if her feet were glued to the floor.

A few minutes later Snape forced his way through the throng of wizards and witches and passed her; Jade felt close to tears now. Maybe it didn't help that the band chose exactly this moment to play a very sad song, a song she loved. As she raised her eyes up to the spot, where Snape had appeared a moment ago, she looked right into grey eyes, stormy grey eyes. And for a moment he froze; his face, which had been looking resentful a moment ago, was suddenly blank. They looked at each other and all the turbulence around them seemed to cease. Slowly he took a few steps towards her, never taking his eyes off her. Then his mouth opened and Jade could hear what he was saying very distantly.

"Professor, I need just a moment longer."

He stood right in front of her now and looked at her in a way that nobody had looked at her for a long time. Jade lost herself in his eyes, until he moved and offered her his hand.

"Would you dance with me?"

Jade felt her body moving on its own accord; her mind didn't seem to be working anymore as she laid her hand into his. Draco took a step backwards now and pulled her after him. He took both her hands into his and steered them further into the crowd and onto the dance floor, where many couples were swaying to the slow music by now. As Jade followed him and looked into his eyes, she felt her entire body starting to tingle; she had forgotten how much tension used to be between the two of them whenever they met.

Tenderly he lifted up her arms and laid them around his neck; then his hands slowly trailed down her body and pulled her closer by her waist. Jade let him; she was still a little shocked by this sudden turn of events. She didn't know how to react to this. Even though she knew she should probably smack him rather than dance with him, there still was this huge part of her that just wanted to be in his arms and savour this one moment, she had with him. And so she turned her head and rested it against his chest, right above his heart.. like it had always been; it was thumping a little faster as he lowered his own head and rested the side of his face against her temple.

They were very close now; Jade closed her eyes and inhaled his scent as she nuzzled her face softly into the crook of his neck and felt how he wrapped his arms even tighter around her. Merlin, she had missed him so much. His scent and his touch remembered her of everything they had been and she felt the tears well up inside her as she realized that she couldn't keep him. It would just be one dance and then they would part again. This was all she got and it was cruel.

She pulled her head back and looked up at him and suddenly there were so many things she wanted to say to him or ask him or simply scream at him. She wanted to know why he was doing this to her. And why he was doing this to himself. But then she looked into his eyes and it took her breath away. From the expression on his face Jade could see that Draco was just in as much pain as she was.. She had believed that he didn't love her anymore.. or that he had never really felt that way for her. But right in this moment she could feel that it all had been a lie. He did have strong feelings for her, no matter how much he had denied it in the past. But then again how could someone love you and treat you like he had treated her.. like something worthless?

Jade's eyes left Draco's now and as the music played on she took in the rest of his appearance. He had changed; he didn't look as good, as young or as handsome as he used to last summer. His pale blond hair, his elegant facial features and the pointed chin had remained the same, but his skin was slightly greyish and he looked ill; he looked exhausted. And Jade knew that it was the stress that had been wearing him down. She couldn't help it, she raised her hand and rested it against his cheek; she could feel that he hadn't shaved in quite a while, which was another change. Back when they had been dating he hadn't even had to shave.

Draco had stopped moving now; the song was nearing its end. He took her hand into his and turned his face inside it, kissing the inside of her palm tenderly. And it tore Jade's heart into pieces.

A single tear rolled down her cheek, she couldn't help it. He brushed it away, carefully. And right in that moment the turmoil in Jade's head was reduced to one thought. She still loved him. And she wanted nothing more than to tell him that. And tell him that it wouldn't go away. That maybe it never would.

But she was afraid that it would only rip open her wounds again and hurt her even worse when he would walk away from her after this song.

His hand, which had been brushing away her tears, had moved to cup her cheek. And Jade's heart sped up as Draco leaned in closer now, taking her face into both of his hands. He looked at her and in the grey storminess of his eyes Jade could see yet another feeling..

"Please," he whispered to her, barely audible over the last notes of the song, "don't leave with him tonight."

His voice sounded a little hoarse and deeper than usual and there was pain in it. Jade knew that he meant Roger. It hadn't been a secret after all that he was her date for the night. She shook her head; it baffled her a little that he would ask something like that. It was a little selfish, wasn't it? To break up with a girl and then ask her to stay alone.

He still watched her, awaiting her response; he didn't look at her in a desperate or pleading way, but he looked at her as if her answer would mean something to him.

And after a moment Jade opened her mouth to speak to him. It was just one word, but it was practically all she ever had to ask him. "Why?"

She didn't just want to know why she shouldn't leave with another boy tonight, she wanted to know the reasons for so much more. But Draco only inclined his head a little and looked deep into her eyes. And something about his look made Jade feel this sensation in her stomach again, she hadn't felt for quite some time.

And then he leaned in further and closed the gap between them. His hands, which were still holding her face, tilted her head up slowly now. A breath got caught in Jade's throat and then her eyes fluttered close as she felt his lips upon hers. He kissed her, slowly and soulfully. And a tingling shiver ran down Jade's body as he moved his lips against hers.

She had never felt anything like this. No kiss, they had ever shared, had made her feel like this. Every cell of her body seemed to prickle, even though she hadn't even kissed him back yet. He was holding her face tenderly in his hands as if she might break and the way he kissed her lips filled Jade up with a quivery feeling. For a moment she just let him kiss her slowly and sensuously, thinking that her heart might break any second. She let out a silent whimper and felt how Draco stopped kissing her and pulled away a fragment. She opened her eyes now and saw that he was watching her, his face very close to hers. Jade's breathing sped up, her lips felt so cold without his touch. Her hands were still resting around the back of his neck and she pulled him close again. Immediately Draco resumed their kiss and this time Jade kissed him back. It wasn't a deep kiss, but it shook Jade to her core.

And as the last notes of the song died out she pulled away from him and turned her head to the side. Draco let his arms travel down her body and pulled her closer to him. He kept her firmly in his embrace and rested his chin on top of her head. Jade felt her heart break into even tinier pieces and she nestled her face up against his chest. She had never felt more confused than in this moment.

For a few seconds they stayed in this position, but then Draco let go of her and tilted her head up to look at him once more. And as Jade looked up at him she almost couldn't believe how much she felt for this boy right now. He placed a small kiss on her forehead and then lowered his head to whisper in her ear.

"Jade, I'd never expect you to wait for me.. But if you ever did.. I promise you I'll be there." It was the last thing he said to her, before he completely let go of her and turned to leave the room.

* * *

Only a second later Hermione was by her side, holding her. Jade told her she was alright, but her words sounded suspiciously like little sobs. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She fought her tears down. She didn't want to crumble to pieces in front of everyone.

What on earth had happened right now? Him.. kissing her.. And she kissing him back.. And he saying.. he'd be there eventually.. if she still wanted him..

Somehow this was too much for Jade to handle. She wanted to get out of here. But leaving without Roger probably would be incredibly rude; as she thought of the boy she felt a little ill. She had nearly kissed him just about half an hour ago.. It felt like such a mistake now. She was grateful that it hadn't happened.

Hermione still rubbed her back as Jade saw Blaise making his way through the crowd towards them. He looked at her, sensing how hurt she was. Apparently he had seen what had happened. Through all her hurt, Jade noticed that he was holding Chloé's hand as he was pulling her with him, and somewhere deep inside her it lifted her pain a little.

As the two of them finally stood in front of her, Blaise let go of Chloé's hand again and shot Jade a pitying look. Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Come on kid, let's go get us some more punch. I have a feeling we need it right now."

Jade needed twenty minutes and a big glass of punch to get over her initial shock. Hermione was still by her side and Chloé and Blaise were standing close-by, deeply immersed in their conversation.

"Hermione?" It was the first word, Jade finally brought out. "Did people see us?"

"Well, apart from Blaise I actually don't think anybody else really took any notice of you. But obviously Snape saw you. At first he merely looked completely bewildered.. but then I think there was a faint trace of worry in his eyes. Even though his face was mostly inscrutable as usual. I tried to distract him though. I had a few questions about my last test. He deducted points because I answered 'too elaborately'." She said with a rather foul look on her face, but then her eyes turned to Jade again and she whispered "Did Draco say anything to you?"

Jade repeated Draco's words to Hermione and just as the girl wanted to say something to it, Roger pushed his way through the crowd. He beamed at her as she saw the girls; his face had returned to its usual state. Jade suppressed a groan; somehow she really wasn't keen on his company right now. She took another gulp of her punch and realized that she was getting slightly tipsy by now, maybe she shouldn't have skipped dinner..

"I'm sorry it took so long... Have you been drinking?" Roger laughed as he finally stand in front of them. Jade only shrugged a little, wondering why he had noticed it so quickly. Maybe she really was acting a little more drunk than she registered herself?

"Roger, can we leave now?"

"I just got back and you want to leave?" he asked, sounding genuinely affronted. "Well, alright. Let's get your coat then."

Jade said Goodbye to Hermione, who wanted to leave with Harry, and told her to say Goodbye to Blaise and Chloé for her.

Then she got her cape from the wardrobe and left the room after Roger. The sound of music and loud chattering followed them a long way. Roger hooked her arm into his somewhere on their way to the Gryffindor Tower and in her tipsy state Jade let him; actually she kind of needed the support.

"How much did you drink?" he asked her now.

"Just two glasses of the punch.. if you count the first one."

"I never saw anyone, who got this drunk from two glasses of punch. It wasn't even a very alcoholic one." He said; even though Jade hugely disagreed with his last point.

"I'm sorry.. Is it that bad? Usually I find drunken girls extremely annoying." Jade said, feeling a little guilty.

"No.. You're still cute. I just feel bad.. I shouldn't have let you alone for so long... Now you got a drinking problem." He grinned and Jade smiled a little.

They didn't talk much on their way up to the Fat Lady and as they stood right in front of the portrait, Jade turned towards Roger again. The walk somehow had cleared her head and the alcohol seemed to leave her veins. If she was honest with herself she had been lost in memories of what had happened earlier for the entire time. How Draco had held her in his arms again. And even though it hurt her, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Somehow it mended her heart and ripped it open again at the same time. As she realized that Roger was still holding her arm, she pulled it back. But somehow he didn't get the message and wrapped his arms around her waist now.

"Even though I was absent for most of the evening, I still had a great time with you." He smiled his most dazzling smile and Jade couldn't help but smile back. And before she really knew what was happening his lips were on hers. For a second she just stood there in shock, unmoving like a marble statue. But then a rush of emotions shot up inside her, tears spilled from her eyes and she turned her head to the side, pushing against Roger's shoulders.

"I'm sorry.. I can't do this.."

And she just left him standing there, quickly uttering the password to the Fat Lady and climbing through the hole without looking back once. The Common Room was almost empty and nobody saw how Jade made her way over to the couch and collapsed in tears.

It didn't take too long until she felt somebody sit down next to her; she had her head buried in her arms so she couldn't see who it was. But when a delicate arm slung around her shoulders and a faint trace of perfume reached her nose, she knew it was Hermione.

"Roger kissed me, Hermione. And I completely fell apart. I didn't want him to.." she looked up at her friend; her own hurt was reflected in Hermione's eyes.

"This evening started out so good." Jade shook her head. "I felt so confident. And then.. Draco.. " Now the tears came back to her eyes, she felt pathetic. "Why does he have such a power over me? Why can he change everything with one little moment? Why can't I just stop this?"

Hermione shot her a knowing look as Jade wiped the tears away angrily.

"I really have to say Jade.. Seeing the two of you together like this nearly broke my heart as well. And you know how much I usually detest him... But I know there still is something between you."

"You know, Hermione, somehow it felt like farewell. One last dance.. The Goodbye we never really said out loud." Even though Jade wanted to start crying again, she started to regain control over herself. She wanted to see this objectively and not get carried away by her emotions. If she started to get her hopes up now, she would surely be disappointed and hurt again.

But Hermione looked at her critically. "Actually to me it looked as if he just couldn't stay away from you any longer. I knew it the whole time, Jade. I just knew it."

"Hermione, please stop. I can't do this."

"But I know it's true. And the things he said to you, that he'd be there for you if you waited for him. He's still in love with you! It was so blatantly obvious tonight! You love each other.. You can't deny it!"

Jade couldn't help but smile now. "I really do.. I do love him.. It just was there tonight as if it had never left.. But that doesn't mean that I forgive him.."

Hermione, who had been smiling too, suddenly looked serious again."Which you shouldn't! He acted like a real git.. But it's nice to know, isn't it?"

Jade nodded. "I guess it is.." The chance that they would ever get back together was ridiculously small in her opinion.. She would leave school this year and who knew where Draco would be. But if they ever got out of all this, maybe there still was a chance, no matter how small. And knowing that somewhere deep inside him, he still cared for her and wanted her back, comforted her extremely. He was and would always be her first love. She still did not know why he had acted the way he had after the summer.. But it was clear now that he hadn't done it because he didn't love her anymore.

She sat next to Hermione for a long time, staring into the crackling fire and thinking about everything. Somehow she didn't feel sad anymore, which was weird after a night like this. Quite some time later the portrait swung open again and Chloé climbed into the Common Room. She had a giant smile on her face as her girlfriends, who had been waiting for her the entire time, shot up to her side and bombarded her with questions. Jade caught her eye across the room and the two girls smiled at each other. Somehow she really liked the blonde. Then Jade stood up, said Goodnight to Hermione and made her way up to her dormitory. She still had to pack her trunk for the journey home tomorrow.

She kicked off her heels as soon as she entered the dormitory. Leanne was already sleeping and quickly Jade changed into her nightgown. Then she knelt down in front of her trunk. It was a utter mess inside it. Maybe she should empty it completely before repacking it. And so Jade pulled out one forgotten item of clothing after the other and finally her hand caught hold of something incredibly soft. It was Draco's cardigan. She had never been able to return it and now she looked at the soft garment in her hands and couldn't resist the temptation to bury her face in it. Maybe she imagined it, but she thought it still smelled like him. She held it close to her as she stood up and lay down on her bed. She would finish packing tomorrow.

Jade hoped nobody would ever see her like this as she draped the cardigan on her pillow right next to her face and snuggled against it. She would wait for him. No matter how long.. she would. There had never really been another option for her. And he had promised today, hadn't he? One day.. Jade thought and smiled. And for the first time in a long time she fell into a peaceful sleep.


	33. Chapter 33

_A/N: First of all I wanted to say that I did some small changes in Chapter 8. You might remember the scene when Draco and Jade went down to the Kitchen after Jade hexed Pansy.. It's slightly longer now and I think Draco is a little more in character. I didn't do any major changes, but I just thought I'd let you know ;)_

* * *

Early the next day Hermione and Jade stepped out of the castle and into the cold morning air. Overnight the snow had piled up even higher and slowly the carriages made up their way to the castle through the thick white blanket. The two girls lined up behind the other students, who waited for the carriages to arrive. Jade's eyes trailed along the line of people and she saw the tall figure of Blaise standing over in a little group of Slytherins; directly next to him she made out the back of Roger's head and immediately ducked down. She really did not want to run into him right now.

She just was so embarrassed about the whole incident and didn't really know how to approach him. Should she talk to him about it? Or should she simply act as if nothing had happened? Regardless of what she did, it would definitely be awkward the next time they met. She simply felt mortified when she thought about their 'non-kiss'. And even more so when she thought about her own reaction; she had started crying and had simply run away from him. Really mature of her..

Hermione had advised her to approach Roger after the holidays, when the situation had blown over a little. Jade thought she might just do that; after all talking to him in the 'privacy' of the Hogwarts Express really wasn't an option anyway.

Finally the first carriages arrived and the mass of students became thinner; unfortunately Roger still hadn't gotten into a carriage and Jade was slowly getting nearer to him. She was just starting to feel a little nauseous when someone shot past her and a rush of air met her face; she knew who it was just by his scent..

Draco was striding quickly through the snow, bundled up in a thick winter coat and headed for the carriage at the front of the line, into which Blaise and the other Slytherins were currently stepping in. The blond boy made his way through the students, shoving them to the side with ease. Jade followed him with her eyes until he came close to Roger; she averted her gaze and regretted it immediately. She heard a dull thud and then Roger's voice shouted "Oi! Watch where you're going, Malfoy!"

She turned back towards the scene in front of her and saw how Draco turned to face Roger now. His face looked quite scary. It was ghostly pale, as pale as the snow. And the dark circles, which had settled under his eyes, stood out stark in contrast. The glare, he shot at Roger, made Jade wonder why the latter hadn't dropped dead to the floor yet. Draco clenched his hands into fists and tilted his head slowly to one side. Jade couldn't blame Roger for taking a step back now.

"What did you say to me?" Draco's snarl was cold as ice and dripping with venom. And his jaw was set as he awaited Roger's reaction. But the other boy only shook his head now, apparently unsure what to say. Draco took another step closer towards him and hissed something under his breath. Jade could not make out the words and a second later Draco turned around again, quickly climbed into the waiting carriage and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Call me overly suspicious, but Jade... that didn't look like a coincidence. I thought for a moment Malfoy was about to jump down Davies' throat. He looked ready to kill." Hermione muttered under her breath.

Jade still was in a slight state of shock. What had just happened? How much did Draco know?

"Hermione.. do you think he... knows what happened last night?" Suddenly she felt close to tears again. If Draco knew that Roger had tried to kissed her.. Somehow she felt ashamed. As if she had betrayed him, even though she knew she hadn't.

"Actually Jade, I never really thought it was Blaise, who attacked Roger last night, in the first place. But he cannot know what happened _afterwards_."

* * *

As Jade stepped onto the Hogwarts Express some time later, she still felt a little uneasy. She really wanted to talk to Blaise about everything, but she hadn't yet seen him on the train. She could already imagine his 'I-told-you-so'-face as soon as she'd tell him that Roger had tried to kiss her. Still, she needed his opinion on the whole situation and also she was bursting with curiosity about his own date last night.

So after lunch Jade decided that she would go look for him. She slid open the compartment door and stepped out onto the empty corridor. As she made her way through the train, she kept glancing into the glass windows of the different compartments, but never caught sight of him. Blaise had to be sitting further at the front.

She was just reaching out for the door, which led to the next carriage, when she saw a familiar head emerge from a compartment down the hallway. Roger!

She cursed inwardly as she saw him turning into her direction slowly. He hadn't yet seen her, so Jade took a few quick steps backwards and, without really thinking about it, entered the first compartment she reached.

She smiled as she saw that she had just joined two fellow Gryffindors; Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas turned their faces to look at her. She knew both of them from the D.A. last year and since Dean had become Ginny's boyfriend and played in the Quidditch team Jade had gotten to know him a little better. But she noticed now that while Seamus started grinning at her, Dean looked a little gloomy.

"Would you mind if I crashed your compartment for a second?" she asked "There's somebody out on the corridor, I'd really prefer not to run into right now."

"Sure! No problem!" Seamus still grinned at her as Dean turned his face to stare out of the window once more.

As Jade sat down a few seats away from Dean, she wondered whether she should ask him if everything was alright. He looked sad. But then again it wasn't any of her business and he would probably appreciate her respecting his privacy. Apparently Seamus had seen her slightly concerned look and said. "He had a fight with his girl last night... _again_."

Dean shot Seamus a glare that was clearly saying _'Thank you, for telling everyone!'_

But Seamus merely shrugged; it was apparent that this wasn't the first time that he had to put up with a gloomy Dean due to girl trouble. For a moment it was silent in the compartment, then Dean sighed and turned his face towards Jade. She could see how miserable he felt as she looked into his brown eyes.

His skin was even darker than Blaise's and he kept his frizzy hair slightly longer. And although his face was good-natured, he wasn't exactly handsome and came no way near the sculptured elegance of Blaise's facial features.

"I have no idea what to do anymore. We keep fighting over the tiniest issues."

He looked at her, apparently hoping to get a girl's advice on the matter; Jade could imagine that Seamus wasn't exactly helpful when it came to relationships. She felt pity for the boy; she knew Dean was a very sweet and caring boyfriend, but the real problem was that his girlfriend was in love with another guy. Ginny would never really open up to their relationship and Jade could foretell that sooner or later the two of them would break up for some petty reason. But of course, she couldn't tell Dean all that.

"Did you two talk about it?" she asked him.

"Many times." He groaned. "But nothing changes. You know, sometimes I have the feeling that I have so much to give, but Ginny doesn't even want it."

Seamus looked pointedly away at this, apparently his best friend started to embarrass him. But Jade only smiled at Dean now.

"Maybe if you give her more time, she'll come to realize that." Jade said, although a part of her wanted to be honest with the boy and just tell him to break up with Ginny. Of course, she would never do that, but somehow she felt that it wasn't fair.

"I guess we'll see how it goes after the holidays. Maybe the space will do us good."

Jade nodded, earnestly hoping for him that he was right, and Dean smiled back at her. Then his gaze wandered over her shoulder.

"Davies just passed. I take it your date last night didn't go that well either? Or wasn't he the one you were trying to avoid?" Dean asked her and Jade smiled a little uncomfortably, making him laugh.

"Did you guys fight, too?" he asked her.

"Not really.. I told him I wanted to go as friends. But well, I guess I should have known better.. And now everything is slightly awkward." She said.

"Did he try something?" Dean was being slightly curious now.

"Yeah.. He kissed me and I.. didn't like it."

The two boys chuckled and Dean asked "The kiss itself? Or the fact that he tried it?"

"I guess both." She said honestly and the boys looked amused "It wasn't a _real_ kiss, though." Jade quickly added. "I stopped it.."

"Mh.." Dean said "If I were you, I wouldn't feel that bad. I mean you clearly said to him that you just wanted to go as friends, didn't you? So it's his fault if he thought he might try something. But it's Roger Davies after all. He's probably with another girl already. So don't drive yourself crazy."

Jade nodded and smiled back at him. Even though it was completely random that she was sitting in a compartment with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan and talking about relationships, it still was kind of nice. It was much more intimate than they usually were, but it didn't feel awkward at all. Jade had to remember to tell Ginny what a nice boyfriend she had.

"I guess the coast is clear now." She said and stood up. "I'd better be going. Have a nice holiday, you two!"

"Sure." Dean said. "Feel free to crash our compartment any time, really."

They smiled at each other and after everyone had wished each other a 'Merry Christmas' Jade left the compartment.

* * *

The moment she stepped out on the hallway, she could hear raised voices. Somebody was arguing. She turned to her right and with much surprise could see the tall figures of Blaise and Chloé standing in the middle of the corridor and nearly shouting at each other. Jade was taken aback. She could only see the back of Blaise, but Chloé's face was furious and her voice loud. When Jade herself got angry, she would always become very cold and more silent, but the blonde was looking ready to explode any minute now.

Jade groaned; in the back of her mind she was sure that Blaise had done something stupid. And even though her better judgement told her to stay out of this, she got nearer now.

"Well, if you would let me explain.." Blaise's voice had risen now, too. But Chloé cut him off quickly.

"What's left to explain? I have ears, Blaise! I just can't believe that you really said something like this!"

"I was trying to defend you, wasn't I? In case you didn't notice?" Jade had never heard Blaise sounding this angry.

"Defend me?" Chloé shrieked. "By what? By calling me a Mudblood?" (Oh no.. Jade wanted to slap her hand against her forehead) "And I'm not even Muggle-born!"

Chloé took a step closer towards him. "I can't believe that I thought you were different even for a moment! I was wrong! You are exactly how everyone painted you out to be! Proud and arrogant and.."

But this time Blaise cut her off. "Yeah? Well, what did you expect, Chloé? Did you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your blood?" (Well, now Jade simply wanted to aim a hex at him. What. An. Idiot.)

"Inferiority?" cried Chloé, looking up at him with pure fury in her eyes. "So you really think like that?" She shook her head now and her face showed a fierce determination. "From the first moment I saw you, I knew Jade had been completely wrong about you!"

"You did, did you?"

For a moment the two of them just stared at each other; then Blaise's figure moved. For a second Jade thought he was about to lean closer towards the girl, but then he spun around on his heel and made his way into Jade's direction. She caught his eye, he looked furious.

As he brushed past her, Jade opened her mouth to say something to him, but he was quicker.

"Don't talk to me right now." And then he was gone.

Slowly Jade approached the blonde now, who was still standing in the middle of the corridor and trying to steady her breathing.

"What in the name of Merlin's beard was that?" Jade asked her.

At first Chloé didn't answer, but only turned towards the window and rested her hands on the small sill. Then she said, much calmer than before "I guess you were wrong about him. He does indeed care about my blood. I overheard him talk to his friends about me."

"What did he say?" Jade asked, fearing the worst.

"He said that I wasn't that bad for a Mudblood." Chloé said, bitterly. There was sadness in her voice, too. Her blue eyes dropped down to her hands and Jade could sense that she was hurt. She had put up a tough front against Blaise, but inside she was hurting. "For a moment I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We really had a great time last night. I thought he was so different. I really liked him."

Jade shook her head as she stared out of the window. And somehow she was slightly hurt herself; she hadn't thought that Blaise would really think like this. He never used the M-word in front of her and Jade had never expected him to use it on Chloé. And after all she was half-blood. Even in Slytherin there were half-bloods... But of course for the real pureblood 'elite' half-bloods weren't worth as much as they themselves. Slowly Jade got angry.

"I'm so sorry, Chloé. If I had known that he would ever act like this I had never asked you to go out with him. I never knew he thought like this!"

The other girl looked at her now. "Maybe you never realized the way he is thinking, because you are a pureblood, too. You might not share their beliefs, but you do share their status. So they might treat you with respect, but they would never treat someone like me the same way."

Jade nodded, then she took a step back and turned around. "Where are you going?" asked Chloé.

"Oh, I'm just going to kick his indoctrinated butt." And then she strode off down the corridor. Suddenly she was very, very disappointed in her best friend. She had never believed him to say something like that.

* * *

She found him rather quickly sitting in a compartment with a few fellow Slytherins. With a feeling of relief Jade noticed that Draco wasn't in their compartment right now and so she took a step forward and opened the door.

"Blaise, could I talk to you for a minute?" From the icy tone in her voice it was clear that she wasn't here for a pleasant little chat.

Blaise was sitting over by the window and didn't even turn to look at her. It made Jade even angrier. First he disrespected Chloé.. and now her. Pansy Parkinson, who unfortunately was sitting in the compartment as well, started cackling now. "Trouble in paradise?"

Jade simply ignored her and waited until Blaise finally responded. "I don't feel like it right now." He said.

Seriously? He was simply leaving her standing here like that? When he knew that she would never even have come to the Slytherin compartment if she hadn't thought it was urgent? Jade felt like hexing him.

Pansy smirked evilly now. "Seems like he doesn't want to talk to you right now. So please, Heywood, would you leave our compartment? You're ruining the pleasant view." She sneered while gesticulating at the window.

But Jade simply kept on ignoring her. "Blaise, you can't be serious.." The boy showed no reaction, but Pansy did. "What didn't you..?" she started to shriek, but was quickly interrupted by a slightly aggressive male voice.

"Pansy, just shut up, will you?"

And it wasn't Blaise who had come to Jade's aid. It was Draco. She hadn't noticed him approaching, but he was standing right behind her now, his body very close to hers. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder and felt her stomach flip as his eyes met hers. It was slowly getting ridiculous how strongly she kept reacting to his physical closeness. For a moment they looked at each other and the fact that they had shared kisses in the dimly lit office last night suddenly felt so unreal. Then Draco moved and raised his arm to take hold of the door handle. Jade was pretty sure that it wasn't a coincidence that he laid his hand down right on top of hers and pulled the door open further. He was still looking in her eyes and Jade felt his fingers brush slightly over the back of her hand, sending shivers through her body. Merlin, did she love to be touched by him. And even though she wanted nothing more than to stand here like this forever, she thought it might look a little weird that they were practically holding hands with a door handle right now.

She smiled at him and then let her arm drop down to her side. Slowly he entered the compartment and sat down, propping his feet up on the seat next to Pansy. The Slytherin girl looked as if she had just got slapped and Jade just couldn't resist the temptation to smirk at her. Suddenly the anger she felt at Blaise didn't weigh so heavy anymore.

"So you're still not coming, Blaise?" she asked once more. In her opinion she really did deserve a little more cooperation now; but Blaise still stared out of the window. "Alright then, just stay here!" she said and closed the door behind her. As she turned around, she heard Pansy's offended voice croak "Oh yes Draco, I forgot. _She_'s your little favourite, isn't she?"

She couldn't hear whether he answered to this or not, but as she walked down the corridor she smiled to herself. Oh yes, she was his little favourite...

* * *

It took a few days, but after the first week of the holidays Blaise appeared in Jade's fireplace. She was sitting at her desk and writing a letter to Hermione as her fireplace glared bright green. The tall boy emerged from it and turned to look at her. As soon as Jade had realized who it was, she turned back to the parchment in front of her.

"So you are going to ignore me?" his deep voice sounded through the room. Jade didn't answer. "Didn't you get my letters?"

She shrugged. "Your owls must have eaten them." She knew this sounded ridiculous, but she just wanted to be in a huff for a little moment longer. She wasn't really angry at Blaise anymore, but still she liked to play a little 'hard to get'. Even though in this case it was more 'hard to reconcile'.

"Haha, Jade." He said dryly. "Would you at least turn around while we're talking to each other?"

"Oh, didn't you notice? I'm not talking to you." She said, grinning to herself.

"Yeah, but I'm talking to you." He sounded slightly exasperated now and Jade could her him walk into the room further. A moment later her chair was pulled backwards and she was turned around to face Blaise.

"Much better already." He grinned at her, his wand in his hand.

Jade glared at him and folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Oh come on, Jade, I don't even get why _you_ are this angry with me."

"Maybe because my _best_ friend isn't who I thought he was. I was disappointed, Blaise! I never thought you really called people that.. and I never expected you to really believe this whole blood-status-rubbish.. And not to mention that you left me standing in front of your stupid compartment with Pansy Pug-Face Parkinson going crazy on me."

"Well, I'm sorry Jade.. and you would know that if you had read the letters, I send you." (Actually Jade had. The first had been slightly angry, the second had been an apology and in the third he had practically been pleading.)

"I know, Blaise.." her voice was much softer now and she could see the tension falling off from the boy; he knew that she wasn't angry anymore. "There's only one thing I need to ask you. Do you _really_ think like that?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't."

"Then what made you say that about Chloé?"

The boy sighed now and turned around to walk across the room. Slowly he sank down on her couch and Jade followed him, sitting down on her small armchair.

"Jade I.. It's just.. I never saw myself with someone like her. I always expected to find a girl eventually, who was more ... well, who was more like you. Pureblood, old family, well-connected..."

"Yeah and look how well that turned out with Astoria." Jade threw in and Blaise nodded.

"I know.. And then I met her.. And somehow I was afraid. I mean, what would my mother think? And all of her friends? Do you have any idea what it would mean to her if I didn't end up with a pureblood? So I said those things, knowing that Chloé was behind me, to make her leave me alone. I knew that a girl like her would just react the way she did. And I thought it would be better for everyone and that if we can never really be together, I shouldn't waste our time.."

He looked really miserable as he told Jade this and she reached out to squeeze his arm a little. Suddenly she felt so sorry for the way she had behaved. She should have known that he had never really meant what he had said. And the way he had stormed off afterwards.. It had hurt him just as it had hurt Chloé.

"Blaise, I'm so sorry. But you mother isn't a monster. If you really fell in love with the girl, then she would let you be together. She wouldn't want you to stay alone. And if I'm completely honest with you, I think you overreacted."

He nodded. "I know.. I panicked."

Jade smiled at him. She could understand that he felt scared, but she knew Mrs Zabini and the woman would never want her only son to be miserable, no matter what others might think.

Blaise grinned now, too. "She's just something special. I tend to screw things up when I really care about it. The way she looked at me after she had heard... In that moment I knew that I had made a mistake.. But I guess it was too late anyway and everything started to escalate.."

"Just explain to her and apologize. Maybe she'd understand."

"I thought about writing to her.. But somehow letters never work out for me." He shot Jade a pointed look and she grinned. "And I think I'll better talk to her in person when we're back in school."

Jade nodded in consent at this. She was positive that if Blaise really was honest about his fears, Chloé would understand. Maybe she wouldn't forgive him immediately; but if she really liked him, she might give him a second chance.

"So Jade.. there's another thing I wanted to talk to you about. Something happened on the morning of our departure from the school. It's a little hard to explain. I'd rather show you. Do you think we could borrow your uncle's Pensieve?"

Jade shook her head. "I don't think he'd like that."

"Hm.." Blaise looked thoughtful for a moment. "Your uncle taught you Legilimency, didn't he?"

"A little." She said, looking sceptical.

"Then use it on me. I'll guide you." He said.

"Are you sure, Blaise?" It really was a token of utmost trust that Blaise was willing to let Jade intrude in his mind. And he nodded now. "What do I have to search for?" she asked, while getting out her wand.

"It happened right when I woke up on Saturday morning. I'll try to concentrate."

Jade raised her wand and pointed it at her friend; she concentrated hard as she looked deeply into his dark eyes and cried "Legilimens!"

* * *

And now images were flying past her faster than she could distinguish them: her own shocked face in Slughorn's office, Chloé giving Blaise her prettiest smile as they said goodbye in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, Blaise walking through the dark dungeons alone. And then everything suddenly stopped swirling and a room materialized around her. Obviously it was the Slytherin boys' dormitory of the sixth-years and green light glimmered through the room. Jade was standing on the wooden floor right in between two large four-poster beds, their curtains and beddings were green. Loud snoring could be heard from the beds across from her. As she turned to her right she could see Blaise, who was lying in his bed and was slowly waking up. Just as Jade wanted to turn and take a closer look at the bed to her left, she heard how the curtains of it were ripped open.

"Bloody hell!" Jade would recognize that voice everywhere. Draco was sounding shocked and angry. And just as Jade turned to look what had happened, he fell out of the bed next to her, crashing on the floor to her feet as if he was fleeing from his own bed. As Jade turned her eyes up to look what had scared him this much, her heart certainly missed a beat. Pansy was lying there, wearing a nightgown that barely left anything to the imagination, and was pushing herself up in the bed. She scrambled to the edge of it and looked down at Draco.

"Babe, did you hurt yourself?" she was asking now, with a look of honest concern in her eyes. But as soon as she looked Draco in the eyes, her own face froze.

"What are you doing here?" he spat out at her, scrambling up from the floor. He only wore a pair of pyjama bottoms and his chest was bare; there was a small bandage on his left forearm and Jade knew that it wasn't there because he'd got hurt.

"You mean you can't remember?" Pansy asked him, looking puzzled.

"I certainly can't remember. You know that just as well as I do. Did you sneak up in my bed?"

"Well, I didn't _sneak_. I did ask if you wanted me there."

Draco raised his hands now to push against his temples with his palms; he looked as if he had a very bad headache. Then he groaned and closed his eyes.

"Get out, Pansy. I'm really not in the mood for this." He spoke silently, but determinedly.

And Pansy threw the covers completely from her body now, she looked offended and hurt. She staggered out of bed and pushed against Draco's chest as she passed him. Her high-pitched voice rose now, waking up every boy in the dormitory.

"You know, Draco, sometimes I really don't get what you want from me. First you treat me like shit for the entire time, then you invite me to your bed..."

"I certainly didn't invite you, Pansy!" Draco interrupted her with a snarl and turned to look at her angrily.

"Yeah, deny it as much as you want! But we both know it's true. This night I slept in your arms and you even kissed me! And now you're acting like this again.." she crossed the room as she screamed at him. Now she ripped the door open and turned to shoot one last glance at him. "Really, Draco. Get your shit together, will you? I'm not going to deal with this any longer!" And then she slammed the door shut behind her.

Draco was staring after her, his face was pale with rage.

"What in the name..?" A sleepy voice piped up from another bed, but Draco quickly cut him off. "Shut up, Nott!" he hissed.

He stood in the middle of the room for a minute, apparently trying to remember what had happened during the night. Suddenly Jade jumped in surprise as Blaise appeared next to her shoulder. He didn't look as if the entire scene had interested him the slightest and went to unbutton the upper part of his luxurious-looking pyjamas. His dark skin glistened in the green light of the room as he threw the shirt on his bed and bent over his trunk to pick out some fresh clothes. Draco had turned now and was staring at Blaise's back.

Blaise stood up, his clothes under his arm and made his way over to the second door of the room, opposite the one Pansy had left through. Apparently he was on his way to the bathroom.

"Blaise, wait!" It was Draco, who made a few steps after the other boy. "You're not going to.. I mean don't tell.. Pansy lied!" he finally exclaimed.

"And why.." Blaise turned now and looked at Draco; the look alone made Jade a little shivery. ".. would I be interested in that?"

"You know what I mean, " said Draco. "Don't tell her. Don't tell Jade."

Fury flickered across Blaise's face now. "Do you really have the audacity to tell me this? To even mention her name in front of me?" With two large strides Blaise stood directly in front of Draco, he towered over him, his slanted eyes narrowed. "Who are you to tell me anything? You're nothing Malfoy.. just a very bad _liar_." He hissed at him; it was clear that Blaise didn't buy Draco's story.

Even though Jade would probably have taken to her heels already if Blaise ever looked at her like that, Draco didn't seem to be intimidated in the slightest; but he actually took a step closer to him now. Jade wanted to shut her eyes. The way the two boys stared at each other was not very appeasing. Blaise was the taller of the two and his dark body was toned and muscular; he looked ready to rip Draco into shreds. Both of their wands lay in a safe distance on their nightstands so at least they couldn't curse each other.

Draco opened his mouth now and hissed icily at Blaise. "Zabini, if you are going to tell her what happened this morning, then I might as well have a talk with that little girlfriend of yours. Chloé was her name, right? Maybe I should tell her what the Zabinis really think of the likes of her... Isn't she a Mud.." But Draco never finished that sentence.

Blaise had shoved him with all his might and the blonde boy stumbled backwards and landed on the floor. Jade's eyes grew wide; she wanted to stop them, but knew she couldn't do anything in a memory. With a few quick strides Blaise was next to Draco again and pulled him up from the ground. Jade closed her eyes now, she didn't want to see this. Maybe she should get out of Blaise's mind now. She heard how the two boys fought as sickening noises made the way to her ears. Then she heard Blaise shout.

"Get off me you idiots!"

She opened her eyes again and saw how Crabbe and Goyle had jumped Blaise now and pulled him back off Draco. The latter was standing in the room, shaking out his hand. Draco and Blaise both looked battered with bloody lips, bruised knuckles and a little laceration on Draco's brow bone. But with the way Blaise had been looking earlier, Jade was quite surprised that Draco was able to stand upright. Apparently he could make head against Blaise if he wanted to.

Crabbe and Goyle let go of the dark-skinned boy now, apparently convinced that he wouldn't jump their friend again. Blaise pushed them away from him and bent down to pick up his clothes, which had fallen to the floor. He turned around to Draco again.

"If you even so much as speak to Chloé, I will kill you. I'm serious. And don't touch Jade! Don't touch her ever again!" He turned and ripped open the bathroom door.

Jade turned to look at Draco, who was taking heaving breaths. His face looked bitter and blood trickled down his face from his brow bone. "I didn't lie, Zabini!"

It was the last thing Jade heard, before the room started swirling and she found herself standing in her own bedroom again, her wand in her hand, pointing at Blaise.


	34. Chapter 34

_A/N: Thank you again for all your reviews :)_

_ I've been trying for two days to upload this chapter.. But somehow it just won't show up.. sometimes this site doesn't really work :-/_

* * *

Jade's mind was still swirling with the images from the memory as she let herself fall down onto the couch next to Blaise. "Wow.. That was ...intense."

"Yeah.. And don't ask me where skinny ferret boy suddenly learned how to fight.. I was actually intending to send him straight to the Hospital Wing for round number two.. "

"I wasn't referring to your fighting.. which was very Neanderthal of you now that you mention it." She shot Blaise a stern look.

For a moment the room was silent and the boy was watching her intently from the side. Then he said "You believe him." It was definitely a statement rather than a question. First she only shrugged, but then nodded her head. "I knew you would, Jade." He sighed. Was that pity in his voice?

"You saw the look on his face when he saw Pansy?" she asked now, trying to defend herself. "And how angry he got when she told him they'd kissed? I mean he fell out of bed! That wasn't staged.."

"Jade, honestly. Are you sure you don't just believe him because you _want_ to believe him?"

"No, Blaise.. I.. It's not as if I didn't know the guy.. I saw he wasn't lying. And you remember what Pansy said to him? That they '_even'_ kissed that night? That makes it sound as if that was the furthest they'd ever gone. I mean if you sleep with someone, then it's not really a big deal if you kiss the person afterwards. So Pansy has been lying about sleeping with him. And when she can lie about something as big as that, she can surely lie about a kiss."

Blaise simply shook his head. "Jade.. I think you're barking up the wrong tree now. Pansy might be a liar. But lying to your girlfriend about sleeping with a guy is something completely different than lying directly to the boy in question. So you might not be convinced that Draco was lying, but I'm convinced that Pansy wasn't. And I know both of them a little longer than you do and I can tell you that Draco is the far more accomplished liar of the two of them. He can lie straight in your face without blinking. Pansy usually starts some nervous habit, like playing with her hair, giggling or chewing on her lip. Trust me, Jade. I know them. And you saw what he is really like, didn't you? Blackmail seems to be a appropriate way for a Malfoy to start his day."

"Well, he didn't really threaten to do anything to Chloé.." she said silently.

"Yeah, and I think he probably wouldn't even have screwed things up with her as bad as I did myself. But don't you think that the fact that he tried so hard to make me not tell you shows that he has something to hide? If he really had been honest about not kissing Pansy, he could just have shrugged it off and have a laugh about it. But he got so worked up that I find it suspicious."

"Maybe he was afraid that I would believe the rumour either way, even if he had just laughed it off." Jade offered.

"Jade, please stop defending the git! He doesn't deserve it!" Blaise sounded annoyed and Jade folded her arms in front of her chest, starting to pout slightly. He went on. "Honestly.. Usually you're a very perceptive person, but somehow you always start acting like a naive little fawn whenever Malfoy is concerned. I mean look at the facts: he kissed you and then he goes and spends the night in bed with another girl. And I can tell you: If Pansy crept into _my_ bed at night, _I'd_ notice."

A sick feeling spread in Jade's stomach at his words. She knew that Blaise had a point and that it indeed would be naive to close her eyes from the possible truth. But she simply hated the thought of another girl in Draco's arm, she really hated it.

Jade was a person who could forgive easily and quickly. She would forgive Draco if he had lied to her about the reasons for his behaviour; she would forgive him for abandoning her. There was only one thing Jade would never be able to forgive and it was cheating. Of course, they weren't technically together.. _and_ she had halfway kissed Roger. But still she would never get over the thought that Draco had _intentionally_ kissed another girl on the same night that he had kissed her. It would ruin everything.

She just was much too proud to ever let a boy touch her again after he had touched another girl. If Draco really had kissed Pansy that night, Jade knew it would be over. She wouldn't want to have him anymore. He could go with Parkinson and Jade wouldn't care to stop him. She just had never been the type of girl that tried to woo a guy or get him to like her more than another girl. He either had only her on his mind or he wouldn't have her at all.

She knew her attitude might seem a little extreme and others, like Hermione, might be thinking completely different about these things. But she didn't; she couldn't deal with this, with the thought of Draco and another girl... It would destroy the picture she had from him. He had promised her something and this promise meant a lot to her. She just prayed to Merlin that he wouldn't let her down this time.

"Jade?"

The girl jumped as Blaise's voice stirred her up from her reverie.

"I wanted to ask if I could stay at your place for the last days of the holidays. My mother is visiting a few of her friends in France over New Years."

Jade was grateful that he had changed topics and nodded. "Yeah, sure Blaise."

Somehow she felt slightly miserable again. A few days ago the thought that Draco still wanted to be with her had made her happy. But now the vision of Pansy lying in his bed, in his arms even, made her sick. She felt the strong urge to curse something and anger started bubbling inside her.

Suddenly she shot up from the couch. "I think I need to go out for a walk."

"It's a snow storm outside..." Blaise said, cocking one of his brows. But Jade merely shrugged; she really couldn't care less for the weather right now. "Shall I accompany you?" he asked.

"No thanks, Blaise. I'm in a bad mood; I would only pick a fight with you." She said as she threw her cloak around her shoulders.

A moment later she closed the door of her bedroom behind her and made her way down the staircase. She just needed some time to clear her head and make up her mind about what she had just seen. She still believed that Draco hadn't lied, but there was one question lying heavy on her mind: Was Blaise right when he said she only _wanted_ to believe him?

* * *

Christmas came and went, as did New Years and Jade slowly calmed down again. She was still hurt in her pride and thought she might spontaneously curse Pansy the next time she saw her. And even though she just wanted to trust Draco, somehow she couldn't anymore. She wanted to know the truth, but there was no real way to get it. Who knew when Draco decided to talk to her again? And she would definitely not start running after him.

She had decided that she would just try not to think about it too much anymore. And so instead of obsessing about possible meanings of Blaise's memory, she spent hours with the boy himself trying to find the perfect words and phrases for him to apologize to Chloé. And on the last day before the start of school Blaise slowly started to get a little nervous.

He was staying at their guest room a few doors down the corridor from Jade and she was just finishing packing her trunk when he burst into her bedroom and closed the door behind him.

"I need another go."

"Blaise, please! We've been through this a million times.. in every possible variation." Jade groaned as she turned around to face him.

"Just one more time. I thought about something new."

"You really have too much time on your hands." Jade sighed and let her body plop down onto her bed. Blaise closed his eyes for a second, then he looked at her again.

"Chloé," he said.

"Zabini." She answered, folding her arms in front of her chest.

They had played this little game a lot during the last days and each time Blaise would apologize to Jade, who would answer him in the role of Chloé. Sometimes she would be an angry Chloé, an indifferent Chloé or even a sobbing Chloé and each time Blaise would try to adapt his words to the new situation.

So this last time Jade played the version of Chloé, she thought most likely to encounter Blaise tomorrow. Angry and tough on the outside, but really hurt on the inside.

Blaise was pacing the room in his speech. Sometimes he would make small pauses or correct what he was saying. Jade knew that he really wanted to make up for what he had done. She wouldn't sit here playing the role of the blonde if he didn't.

"So I really know that I have no right to ask you to forgive me, but.. Jade isn't that too dramatic?" he was saying as Jade's eyes travelled over to her clock.

"Oh, Blaise.. I think I have to cut you off now. Oscar wanted to take me side-along to the Burrow in a few minutes." She said and hopped from her bed.

Blaise grimaced for a second, then he said "Well, I guess I'm prepared now anyway. I think I'll be good unless I get the really, really angry Chloé." He grinned at Jade and she laughed; Jade's version of being really, really angry had thrown her vase at Blaise and had let him dangle down from the ceiling by his ankle. She smiled at him and rushed from the room.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Jade stepped into the cosy kitchen of the Burrow. Mrs Weasley and Ginny were already busy preparing dinner and sent Jade quickly up to Ron's room to get the two boys down to help. So she made her way up the many stairs of the house and knocked against the door of Ron's room, which was right underneath the attic.

"Ginny, tell mum we're busy.. we still need to ...pack." Ron's voice sounded through the door. Grinning, Jade opened it.. Just what she had expected to find: Ron was lounging lazily on his bed; Harry was on the other side of the room, where a camp bed had been squeezed in, and reading in the Prince's book. Their clothing items and school books were splattered all over the place.

"Jade!" they grinned at her. "We didn't think you'd be coming anymore!"

"Yeah, my uncle is all about security these days. He barely lets me out of the house." She said as she let herself fall down onto the bed next to Ron, who moved his legs aside to make room.

"I wanted to talk to you for the entire time! It's important." Harry said excitedly and sat up straighter. Jade noticed that Ron looked slightly annoyed.

"It's his new Malfoy-theory." The ginger boy explained. "If I look at the two of you, I'd really think that Harry was the one who had been dating the ferret.. Can't stop thinking about him, can you Harry?"

Harry just snorted and quickly started to tell Jade his story. "So listen to this, Jade. I don't know whether you saw him, but Malfoy was there in Slughorn's office on the night of the party."

Jade nodded. "I did see him. How did he get there anyway?"

"Filch caught him lurking around on a corridor upstairs. Malfoy said he wanted to crash gates at the party, but I don't think he was telling the truth. However, when Snape saw him, he asked Malfoy to leave with him. I followed them underneath my cloak, lost them for a few minutes, but then found them again in an empty classroom. I overheard Snape asking him about Katie's accident; apparently he thought Malfoy was behind this, but of course he denied it. Then Snape told him that he shouldn't run around alone, neither should he set his trust on accomplices like Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy said he had other people behind him. Apparently Snape didn't know what Malfoy is up to either and he tried to make him confide in him; but to no avail. Malfoy even used Occlumency against him."

"Occlumency?" Jade asked, suddenly she saw things so much clearer. Draco had been using Occlumency against _her_ all those months!

"Yeah, but you didn't hear the best part yet. Snape said he did the Unbreakable Vow to protect Malfoy _and_ offered him his help."

Jade's eyes grew wide. "Snape did the Unbreakable Vow?"

Harry nodded, grinning; apparently he was pleased with her reaction. "So that proves pretty much what I have been telling you for the entire time! Malfoy is up to something! They talked about his 'master', obviously Voldemort,"

"Harry, stop saying the name!" Jade squealed. Harry ignored her.

"and Malfoy didn't show any respect for Snape anymore. Usually he always sucked up to him, but this time he even provoked him. So what do you think, Jade?"

"I think this is really unsettling. Especially Snape's involvement.."

As she began to think loud, the boys watched her quietly. Apparently they had learned this from all the years they had spent with Hermione.

"I mean whatever Draco is up to, Snape could do it faster and far more easily. He could be much more dangerous than a sixth-year student. So I guess the basic question is: On which side is Snape really? If he is on our side, then Dumbledore knows about everything and sent Snape to cut the losses. The necklace incident was horrible enough and if Draco really was behind this, things like that could happen again. However if Snape is not on our side.. then I think something really, really bad is bound to happen soon. He is one of the most accomplished Death Eaters. It would be terrible... Harry, you need to talk to Dumbledore about this!"

The raven-haired boy nodded. "I will."

"Good." Jade said. The sun was setting now and she saw something blink out of the corner of her eyes. Something golden peeked out from under Ron's pillow. She leaned over and pulled it out; it was a thick golden necklace, dangling from it were large gold letters, which formed the words 'My Sweetheart'. She had never seen a piece of jewellery so tasteless.

Appalled, Jade stared down at the necklace in her hands as Harry started snorting with laughter and Ron tried to snatch it out of her grasp. But she turned away from him quickly.

"Ron, is that yours?" she asked grinning and turned towards him. His ears were bright red again.

"It's.. " he started

"It's from Lavender." Harry finished for him, still laughing.

Jade's mouth formed a silent 'Oh'. She gave the necklace back to Ron; she didn't want to make fun of a present from his girlfriend. That had been pretty rude, hadn't it?

"I'm sorry.. I just didn't think I would find something like this under your pillow." She grinned lopsidedly.

"Oh... " Ron said. "Actually I was going to throw it away anyway." Jade furrowed her brow at this. She had always thought Ron was more or less happy with Lavender, but apparently he wasn't.

"So Jade.. Have you heard anything from Hermione recently?" he asked, trying too hard to sound casual.

"Yes, she wrote me just yesterday. She went skiing with her parents in the Alps. You know the Muggle sport.."

Ron nodded. "Is she really going out with McLaggen?" he spluttered out now, apparently unable to restrain himself.

Jade hesitated a moment. "Well, I guess he really liked Hermione. But I don't think it's something serious."

Suddenly Ron started to grin and he jumped up from the bed. "Come on, let's go and help mum downstairs!" and he strolled out of the room with an unusual spring in his step. Jade and Harry exchanged meaningful glances behind his back.

She left the Burrow shortly afterwards to have dinner at her own home, still thinking about what she had just learned about Snape. On the one hand it eased her mind a little, because at least Snape had vowed to protect Draco. But on the other hand it suddenly was even more important that whatever reason it was, for which Dumbledore trusted Snape, it had to be a very good one.

* * *

_Draco's p.o.v._

It was the last night of the holidays and Draco lay in his bed, his body felt sore. Today he had faced what he had been dreading for so long. There had been a Death Eater meeting at the Manor tonight and everyone had been there. They had been sitting around the great table in drawing room of the house of his fathers and had treated him with the same condescendence with which they had been talking about his father ever since the night at the Ministry.

But Draco could stand their ridicule and taunting, he had gotten used to it during summer. He hadn't been scared of that. He had been scared of _him_. In front of the entire assembly the Dark Lord had asked him about the progress of his mission. Most of the other Death Eaters weren't even aware what this mission was about and so they had stared at him as he had tried to explain why he hadn't gotten much further yet.

"Oh, Draco, Draco." The cold, high voice had said as his red eyes bored into him. "You don't want to fail me like dear Lucius, do you? I think you need to learn your lesson, so you know how important it is to do the willing of your master."

And Draco knew what was about to happen then. He had been hit with the Cruciatus Curse.. not only once. The Death Eaters had jeered and laughed, yelling that he took the Curse like a child as he had been rolling on the floor in pain, thinking that every piece of his skin was being stabbed with a burning knife. To them it had just been a pleasant little amusement to see the son of the man, they had been envying for so long, being punished and he had still heard their excited voices as he had blacked out. But Draco knew that no man in that room would have stood those three curses by the Lord himself. Not even his own father would have. They all were just big talkers.

And now he was still lying in his bed wide awake as the sky outside slowly started to turn lighter. His body was trembling slightly and he felt suffocated. His mind was shaken. He had heard about people breaking completely under the Cruciatus Curse and becoming permanently damaged. Now he could understand why. The pain had simply been unbearable. And it had taken every last little remainder of hope from him. He knew one thing for sure now.

He was going to die. It was as simple as this. He wouldn't kill Dumledore, he had never been supposed to do it. Today he had seen that the Dark Lord still had not forgiven his father and it had been his plan for the entire time to watch Draco fail.. and to have him killed eventually as a punishment.

He should have known right from the start that this whole 'mission' was hopeless. After all Dumbledore wasn't any wizard. Draco didn't like to admit it, but the old fool simply was the greatest wizard of all time. He had ended the reign of terror of Grindelwald and he was the only man the Dark Lord ever feared. So really, how was _he_ supposed to bring that man down? And hadn't Snape told him that someone already suspected him? So maybe the headmaster already knew about Draco's attempt at his life and didn't even care about it, seeing him as no real danger anyway?

Draco exhaled a breath, his chest still ached. So this was it? Of course, he could still try to mend the Cabinet, but the time was fleeting. Only six months and then he would be over. He knew he needed help, but there was no one. His parents couldn't help him anymore. His mother had been there tonight and had seen how her son was being tortured. She had still been sitting in her chair by the fireplace as Draco had woken up, only staring into the fire completely motionless. And Draco knew that the Malfoys were pretty much over. His mother was crying constantly, even though she tried to hide it, his father was in Azkaban and he himself.. well, he was going to die.

During his childhood his parents had always been so much bigger than him and in control of everything. His father had been his role model; he seemed to know so much and always got what he wanted. He had visited it him in Azkaban on Christmas day; he didn't really know about what Draco was supposed to do as they couldn't tell him in a prison where everyone could listen. But his father knew anyway, at least he suspected something. Everyone who saw Draco recently suspected something. However his father had tried to encourage him, still clinging to the Dark Lord and his ideology. And Draco hated it that he couldn't see that the 'Dark Lord' wasn't their _master_, he just was a sick psychopath like everyone else who bore the Mark on their arm. They were all perverted and repulsive, greedy and bloodthirsty. The atrocity of the human nature scared Draco; it was horrible to watch the things those women and men would do.

He pushed himself up in his bed; he found no rest anymore. He didn't know much about death, he had always thought he was too young to worry about these things. But right now he wondered if whatever it was, which came afterwards, might be preferable to this. He felt the need to just get out of his bed and run away.. of course he couldn't. But still he needed something, anything that would make him think his life was worth living again.

And then he remembered it. Slowly he stood up, expecting his legs to be unable to carry his weight for a second; but then he made his way through his bedroom and entered his personal study through a connecting door. An old portrait of his mother hung above the fireplace and she looked at him sadly as he approached her in the dim light of the room.

"Toujours pur" he said to her silently; it was her old Black family crest. She smiled at him.

"That is correct, my dear." And then she swung forward. Draco reached into a small hole behind the portrait and quickly found what he was looking for: a small, round bottle of a purple potion. He returned to his bed, popped open the lid and took a sip. A minute later he had fallen asleep.

* * *

Darkness swirled around him and for a moment he wondered where he was. But then the stars started to shine in the midnight sky above him. He was standing on top of a high tower and even though it looked different from real life, Draco knew it was the Astronomy Tower. He was standing directly on its edge, there was no railing in his dream, and a few inches away from his feet there simply was nothing but the pure blackness of the depth. He wondered how long it would take to fall.

Suddenly he heard steps behind him, someone was coming up the spiral staircase. He turned around and saw her; he noticed that his vision was very dreamlike. The edges were blurred and nothing did really fit. But he could see her clearly now, she looked a little scared as she took a few steps towards him. She couldn't really know that this wasn't an ordinary dream, could she? And he didn't want her to know, he just needed to see her right now... only for a small moment.

She stopped a few feet away from him and Draco noticed that her face looked slightly hurt. He closed the space between them and raised his hand to touch her face, but she pulled away and turned her head to the side.

"Don't..." she said.

Draco nodded. Of course, Blaise would have told her by now. And if even in a dream she was angry with him, she was probably pretty hurt in real life. He wanted to tell her the truth, but if he did she would surely know that this wasn't a simple dream.

"Jade" he said as he got closer to her and tried again to reach her, this time taking her hand. She let him; touching her felt a little weird, very unreal.

Her eyes turned up to look at him again, shimmering in the moonlight like deep brown gemstones. Draco knew that she would never let him down if he really needed her. Even if he had had Pansy in his bed and Jade might not be his girlfriend anymore, she still would be his friend eventually. Her loyalty had always been one of the things he had admired so much about her.

He moved even closer now and very carefully kissed her lips, he couldn't resist. She didn't respond and turned her face to the side, resting it against his chest.

"What kind of dream is this, Draco?" she whispered.

Draco smiled, of course she was too clever not to notice it. "A good one." He mumbled.

But apparently that was the wrong answer and the girl quickly shoved him away from her. Now her face really looked angry. "So you think you can play with me like this?"

"What?" he spluttered out. "I'm not playing.."

"Yeah? Well, what do you call this then?" she asked, backing away from him. "You kiss me, then get together with Parkinson.. then you use my potion. Can't you understand that this is difficult for me, too? You keep jerking me around!"

Draco had very rarely seen Jade get angry and it was pretty intimidating even in a dream. She could be such a sweet girl, but she could be dangerous, too. "Jade, I'm sorry.. I just needed to see you. I.."

"Yeah, sure. And next night you simply _need_ to see another girl." Jade was still walking backwards, she was getting nearer to the edge of the Tower now. "You know, I was willing to wait for you and I wouldn't have seen other boys. But if you want to play like this, well then please go on playing without me. I don't need this!"

She had reached the edge now and Draco took a few quick strides after her. "Jade, stop! You're going to fall!"

But she only shot him one last hurt look and then she turned and let herself fall down from the edge of the Tower. And even though Draco knew it wasn't real, this image made the blood freeze in his veins. He looked into the darkness beneath him, but he couldn't see her anymore.

He let his body slump down onto the cold surface of the platform. He knew he had gone too far. All those months he had tried so hard to forget her and he had given in only once. Inside Slughorn's office on the night of the Christmas party she had just completely caught him off guard, standing there, looking more beautiful than she had ever looked before. And those eyes of hers, which always looked right into his soul, had captivated him. He hadn't had the strength to deny himself what he longed for so badly. Just one dance.. And it was all it took to shake him to his bones.

And now he had done it again; he had relapsed without even thinking about what he was doing. And he had successfully screwed up everything. If he had thought even a minute about it, he would have known that Blaise would have told Jade by now and that she possibly wouldn't be that happy to see him. But after those three curses tonight his brain had simply felt like jelly.

The curses... He remembered what had put him into this state now and he knew one thing for sure. He did not want to die. He laid back onto the floor and gazed into the stars above.

He knew that if he tried to approach her too soon, she would probably only hex him into oblivion. So he would give her some time and in the meantime he would return to Hogwarts and fall back into his old routine: spending hours in the Room of Requirement, thinking of ways to kill the headmaster and keeping every thought of the girl away from his mind. He would give his task one last try.


	35. Chapter 35

_A/N: So here it goes... Please, let me know your thoughts on this! Excuse a few random typos.. I have to go over this chapter tomorrow once more.. It's just so long.. I always miss a few mistakes.  
_

* * *

Jade awoke with a jolt and sat upright in her bed a second later, her breathing was ragged. The moment she had seen him, she had known that it hadn't been an ordinary dream. Usually she never dreamed of him. She remembered what had just happened very clearly and her pulse was still racing. Anger was pumping through her veins.

She turned around in her bed and let out a little moan of fury. Where did this rage suddenly come from?

Jade hadn't expected to get this angry at him all of a sudden. All those weeks she only ever had been angry at herself, but the moment he had tried to kiss her, she felt a fury break out inside her, which had been bubbling ever since she had seen Pansy lying in his bed. And it had felt kind of good to finally let it out and just throw it into his face. If he thought that he could get in bed with Parkinson and then just casually pop up in her dreams, he thought wrong. She wouldn't let him do this anymore.

She knew exactly where these emotions came from now. He had abandoned her right after sleeping with her, had ignored her for months and hadn't been there for her when she had felt like utter crap. And just as she was starting to feel better, he turned up in her life gain, kissed her and then bedded Parkinson the same night! And to top that, he turned up in her dream, because he 'needed' to see her.

Jade bristled. Why did it always have to be about him? Why did he get to make all the decisions about the two of them? He decided when he wanted to see her.. or when he wanted to kiss her .. or even look at her. And her own stupid heart always had let him do this. But not again! This was going to end!

She needed some clarity. She had accepted his promise and had wanted to wait for him, but she couldn't if this was, what was going to happen in the meantime. If he said that they couldn't be together at the moment, then he should accept that just as she did! He should keep his distance! If he kept playing with her like this, she only suffered more and her wounds were ripped open again before they could even mend.. Not that he cared obviously... He really was the most self-absorbed person, Jade had ever met...

Feeling too agitated to lie in her bed, she stood up and walked to her window. She stared out into the snow-covered garden outside; it looked incredibly cold in the misty air of the early morning. For a few minutes she just stood there and slowly cooled down again. Other thoughts were entering her mind now.

Why had Draco used the potion on the last night of the holidays? When he would have seen her in Hogwarts the next day anyway? He would return, wouldn't he?

And what had he really wanted from her? He said he only needed to 'see' her, not even talk to her or explain why he was keeping dogs in his bed.. female dogs.. bitches to be correct.. (Oh, Jade could be nasty, too..)

But no, he only wanted to see her. Why?..

Maybe because something had happened...

And just as quick as her anger had come up, it was replaced by worry. Jade shook her head; she would never stop caring about him, would she? But she tried to push those feelings away; she should only start worrying about him if he really didn't turn up in the castle today.

And if he did, then the next time they met, Jade would accept nothing but the truth from him. He had played with her long enough now, she really deserved some answers!

There were so many questions in her had by now. She wanted to know why he really had left her back then... why he still wouldn't let her go... what really had happened on the night of the Christmas Party... why he had used her potion tonight... what he had been doing all those weeks whenever he vanished from sight within the castle... what he was working on...

And why was he looking so worn out lately? Under how much pressure was he really? What would happen to him if he failed?

And then stronger than any emotion before, fear took hold of her heart. Just like when she had first learned that he was a Death Eater. And everything, the question about Pansy or the dream, even her own hurt pride suddenly seemed so small... so ridiculously insignificant. What was really happening to him?

With a few quick strides Jade reached her bedroom door and opened it. As she made her way through the hallway, she could only hear the sound of her own bare feet on the cold marble floor. A moment later she entered the guest room and darkness met her eyes. Blaise had drawn the curtains close in front of the windows and Jade could barely see his sleeping form on the bed.

"Blaise?" her silent voice asked into the room as she approached. Somehow she felt like crying again. She had never felt this scared in her entire life and she didn't know why this feeling washed over her so suddenly and so strongly. Like a panic attack. She heard Blaise stir in his bed.

"Blaise, I'm scared."

The beddings rustled as the boy pushed himself up and rubbed his eyes, breathing in deeply.

"Did that ghost come back to haunt you?" he mumbled, still more asleep than awake. She shook her head; he probably couldn't even see.

"I'm scared.. _for him_." Jade stood directly in front of his bed now, hoping that the boy could do something to help her. He sighed, then he reached out and pulled her to sit down on the edge of the bed beside him.

"He's in danger Blaise. I know it." Her voice cracked a little. "I wished he would just talk to me.. I'd understand if he just explained to me... maybe I could help."

She didn't even know what to say anymore. She didn't know why, but Draco really had this gift to create a massive turmoil of emotions inside her. Her anger and hurt was outweighed by her worry and fear for him. She buried her face in her hands, determined not to cry.

Blaise sighed again. He probably thought she had gone mental now, standing in front of his bed out of thin air and stuttering around confusedly.

"Jade, I have a feeling that he'll talk to you soon."

"But what if something happens to him?" _'Or had already happened?'_ She added in her mind.

"He'll be in Hogwarts today. It's safe there." His deep voice was very soothing. Jade knew that he hated Draco more than he hated anyone else and she was grateful that he pushed those feelings aside for her now.

"Come here." He said and held one arm out for her. Quickly Jade scrambled up to him and let him lie his arm around her shoulders to pull her in closer. Nothing could console Jade more than being hugged by Blaise. She knew it sounded weird, but having grown up without her parents, somehow Blaise's care for her meant much more to her than an ordinary friend's could ever mean. He had always been there for her since they had been little and during those last three months, she had realized how much she needed him. He patted her hair as Jade was trying her best to fight her tears down, her hands still covering her face.

"Come on, Jade." He said after a moment "Let's get dressed and get down for some early breakfast. The Floo connection opens at nine, doesn't it?"

Jade nodded and let her hands fall down from her face. Hogwarts had arranged for a one-off Floo Network connection today to get all students safely back to the castle.

"Okay" She said silently, grateful that it was so dark inside the room.

* * *

A few hours later Jade stepped out of the swirling green fire and into Professor McGonagall's office. The woman was sitting at her desk, deeply immersed in her work and only looked up shortly as Jade arrived. She ticked off her name on a very long scroll of parchment, which lay on the desk next to her and was rolled out so far that its ends reached the floor.

"Morning, Miss Heywood."

"Good Morning, Professor."

Jade turned around to see Blaise waiting in a corner of the office for her, his hands in his pockets and looking extremely bored. As if he had waited more than a few seconds for her.

Quickly the two students left the room and as soon as they had closed the door behind them, Blaise said silently "Malfoy is already here."

"How do you know that?"

"His name was one of the only ones already ticked-off."

Jade looked at Blaise a little bewildered, wondering how he could have seen that across the distance and upside down. He smirked. "I have very sharp eyes.. Actually I was looking whether Chloé already arrived..which she didn't."

Jade nodded, feeling a bit relieved. So Draco was already here. At least she knew now that last night she hadn't cut him off in his attempt to tell her that he wasn't coming back or something. Blaise and Jade made their way through the castle and separated at one point. Blaise strolled off to the dungeons, while Jade made her way up to the Gryffindor Tower. The Common Room was almost completely empty as she entered, only a few first-years were sitting by the fire and talking excitedly about what they had gotten for Christmas.

And just as Jade wondered what she was about to do with herself now, seeing that her luggage and her friends hadn't arrived yet, she caught sight of a familiar face over by the windows. Dean Thomas was sitting there, looking bored and playing a game of chess against the board itself while shooting quick glances over at the portrait hole. She walked up to him and he grinned as he saw her.

"Well, you must have gotten here awfully early." She said, looking at his game.

"Yeah, my parents are Muggles, you know. Was a little more difficult to find a working Floo. So I stayed in the Leaky Cauldron last night." He grinned.

"Any news from Diagon Alley?" she asked as she sat down facing him. Dean frowned a little at her words.

"The shops are locking up one after the other. And people keep disappearing. You heard about that Muggle boy who tried to kill his grandparents? Under the Imperius Curse! I can't believe people really do such things!"

For a moment the two of them just stared glumly out of the window, it was an oppressing silence. Then Dean waved his wand over his board.

"In for a game?" he asked and Jade nodded.

She wasn't any good at chess, though. And within the next few hours Dean practically won every game. Finally Jade's chess pieces simply refused to do her bidding anymore and started wandering off at random, trying to avoid Dean's queen, who was fighting her way mercilessly through the board. The boy grinned once again as Jade's king threw his crown down onto the board and stalked off, muttering about Jade's inability under his breath.

Jade looked around her now, the Common Room had steadily filled and by now she could see more familiar faces. And right in that moment the portrait swung open once more and Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny entered. Dean quickly stood up, beaming at his girlfriend and pulling out a little wrapped present from his bag; apparently they hadn't exchanged Christmas presents yet. Jade followed him as he made his way through the crowd. A girl ran past them; it was Lavender and with a squeal of 'Won-Won!' she practically jumped the tall redhead. Jade noticed that the moment Ginny saw Dean, her freckled face showed a lot less enthusiasm. She sighed.. It was a little sad.

* * *

And very quickly the usual Hogwarts routine had started again. Hermione and Ron were still not speaking to each other, Harry still had his appointments with Dumbledore and Draco had gone back to becoming completely invisible. During the first week Jade hadn't seen him once and Blaise had told her that he hadn't really seen him either. He was spending time at wherever he was going to more than ever now. And she realized, a little disappointed, that everything was exactly how it had been before the holidays, as if nothing had even happened at all. Well, with a few exceptions, Jade for example was now trying her best to avoid Roger and the awkward moment when they would really talk to each other for the first time. More than once she got saved by the bell after class and hurried out before he could even get up from his table.

And unfortunately the most interesting news that reached her within the first few days was the fact that the Apparition classes were about to begin. Jade was very excited about learning to apparate; after all, when you could apparate, you really were completely independent in the Wizarding World. Her uncle had invoked a special permission for her, so she could take her test this year while she was still in school, even though technically she was a little too young.

On Friday afternoon after her last class Jade met up with Blaise in front of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. She wasn't the only one who felt that her life was stagnating at the moment. Blaise still hadn't talked to Chloé. Not as if he didn't have the guts to do it of course...

".. So no, I couldn't possibly try to talk to her with Filch trying to stick his Secrecy Sensors up my nose." Blaise was finishing today's excuse of why he hadn't been able to talk to Chloé yet as they made their way down the corridor. Each day of the week he had presented Jade another reason why he hadn't been able to talk to her. Jade knew that he waited for the perfect opportunity to present itself. But well, he would probably have to wait a rather long wait for that. After all Chloé was trying hard avoiding him, too. Jade hadn't told Blaise, but on Wednesday she had seen Chloé positively jump behind a snow-laden rhododendron as she had seen Blaise approaching on one of the courtyards; luckily he hadn't seen.

"Blaise.. Seriously, if you want her to give you another chance, you'd better try quickly to apologize to her. It's been a week. If you wait longer, she'll think that you don't really care about it!"

"It's not as if I haven't tried!" he protested.

"Well, we both know you didn't _really_ try, did you? Don't act like such a chicken, Blaise!"

"Yeah? See who's talking! Aren't you the girl who spent an entire week hiding from the guy who tried to kiss you? Seriously Jade, you're not one to talk." He folded his arms in front of his chest.

"Well, I happen to be just on my way to talk to Roger." She decided spontaneously; it had to be done sooner or later anyway. "So Blaise, you'd better follow my lead and not be a coward now. We'll meet up before dinner and then I want to hear your story!"

And before Blaise could even protest Jade had switched directions and walked off into a different corridor.

* * *

Alright, so she needed to find Roger and talk to him. She still did not know exactly what to say, but she probably would as soon as she had found him. Even though she felt more single than ever at the moment, she definitely knew that she did not want anything more than friendship with him. Sure, he was very good-looking and had never treated her badly and actually he seemed like the perfect 'distraction' after a bad break-up. But not for her. At least not at the moment.. Not with the whole Draco thing.. Maybe Roger and her had just met at the wrong place and the wrong time? But then again, there never had been any real chemistry between them either.

As she walked up to the fourth floor she realized that she needn't obsess this much about Roger. She had never told him that they would be anything else than friends; he would surely understand. So she just had to clear this mess up and then they could go back and be friends again. Or at least classmates that talked to each other.

She found him quicker than she had expected. He was sitting on a bench on a courtyard, holding hands with a Ravenclaw sixth-year girl. Jade corrected her thoughts from earlier: There would never be a right place and a right time for Roger and her. This guy was unbelievable! He couldn't keep his needs at bay for a fortnight, could he? She had thought he might have changed, but apparently he hadn't. She couldn't decide if she should be angry or relieved. But then the little pride, she still had left, kicked in and she settled on angry.

She held her head up high as she strode over to the spot, where the two of them sat. The courtyard was part of the Transfiguration Wing and was charmed to be free of snow and a little bit warmer than it really was outside. Roger was so occupied with charming his newest conquest that he didn't notice her until Jade stood right in front of them, her eyebrows raised.

"Ehm.. Mandy, could you give us a moment? I'll see you up in the tower in a second." The blonde girl only nodded and left the courtyard, eyeing Jade warily.

Now Roger looked at her and it was clear that he was currently feeling very uncomfortable. He probably was thinking about what he was going to tell her as they were about to be having the 'break-up talk' without ever being together. And suddenly Jade realized that this really was something she didn't even need to hear. Why bother? She never had had feelings for him and he hadn't really hurt her. Granted it was pretty foul of him to go around and kiss her and then directly fawn over some other girl.

"You really are a nasty toerag.. At least now I know why they warned me." she had to grin as she sat down on the bench next to him.

Roger looked quite surprised; he clearly hadn't expected this behaviour from her.

"Well, I'm sorry. But Jade, _you_ ran around the castle for days and ignored me at all costs. You can't really blame me.."

She nodded and smiled at him. "Yeah, I know. It just was so .. _embarrassing_."

He grinned now, too. "Yeah, talk about embarrassing. I never had girl cry in my face before. I just thought I must have gotten really bad."

Jade let out a little laugh. "And was Mandy able to appease you?"

"Well, not really. I dated her last year. She's a terrible kisser. Didn't even bother to try that again today.." he halted for a moment and looked at the spot, where Mandy had just vanished. Then he shook his head and went on "You know, I'm really happy you're talking to me again, Jade. Somehow I felt I had really messed up our friendship. I do consider you a good friend. And I don't want to not talk to you because we kind of kissed. I know it was stupid; friendship and kissing should probably never be mixed. But sometimes it's hard to withstand the temptation. I have absolutely no clue how Zabini can hang around you this much without ever trying something. How does he do that?"

Jade smiled, thinking of Blaise. "I think the two of us just know each other too well to find us alluring in any way."

Roger showed off his teeth now; Jade knew that smile, it was the _Charming _smile. He used it whenever he was flirting with a girl. "Well, consider me deeply allured by you. But I'm fighting it.. For the sake of our friendship." He twinkled at her and then went on "Shall we go inside? You must be getting cold.."

"Sure" Jade stood up and followed Roger through the courtyard. He opened the door, which led back to the corridor, for her and Jade stepped inside.

"Alright then," Roger said as soon as he had shut the door behind him. "The Ravenclaw Tower is that way. I guess we have to part here." Jade turned towards him; he was still wearing that smile. Then he pointed right above them with his hand. "They still haven't put down the mistletoe." He said silently, stepping closer towards her.

He wasn't serious, was he? Apparently not as he started snickering at her shocked expression. "Just kidding. But at least let me give you a hug." And before Jade could even protest he had pulled her into an embrace again, not the friendly Blaise-sort of hug though. And as Roger's hands randomly started travelling down her waist, Jade realized that he didn't cope well with rejection. He might even try harder to get her now under the cover of 'friendship'.

Swiftly she stepped out of his embrace and turned away from him, just as she heard quick footsteps coming down the corridor ahead of them. She still had one of Roger's arms around her waist as the person turned the corner and came into view. Her stomach sank as she realized that it was (probably with the worst timing ever) a certain blond Slytherin.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw them and Jade noticed how his left hand flew instinctively into his robes, taking hold of his wand. Quickly she mimicked his motion; she did not want him to hex Roger and if a fight broke out in a second she wanted to be able to stop it. Watching Roger for his reaction, she realized how he let his arm drop away from her, but instead of pulling out his own wand, he simply stared at Draco in a curious way, oblivious to the fact that the other boy was currently contemplating to curse him.

A little bewildered at the look on Roger's face, Jade followed his line of vision and gasped the second her eyes met Draco's face. She hadn't seen it at once, but there was an ugly, blue and green bruise right on his cheek. It looked as if someone had tried to smash his face with a Beaters' bat.. or as if he had fallen to the ground full on his face. It didn't look fresh though.. It had probably happened during the holidays.

"Who did that to your face, Malfoy? I'd really like to send them flowers!" Roger called over; his voice sounded unusually mean. Jade pulled her wand out a little further , dreading Draco's reaction to this and ready to cast a Shield Charm any second. But the boy surprised her. He straightened up to his full height and moved his hand out of his robes. Casually he pulled them back and pushed his hands into the pockets of his slacks. Then he started strolling towards them with that certain Malfoy-ish smirk on his face.

"Actually, Davis." He drawled, still seeming completely at his ease. "I doubt that. And now please.. " he added more silently as he drew nearer. ".. get out of my way."

The smirk on his face suddenly looked menacing and there was such a dangerousness and aggressiveness in his voice that even Jade moved further out of his way. She saw Roger do the same without hesitating for a second. Draco's cold grey eyes gave him one last vicious stare as he brushed past them and vanished down the corridor with large strides. Jade stared after him. He hadn't even looked at her _once_... as if she was nothing but thin air for him.

"Is it just me or is Malfoy getting creepier by the day?" Roger asked her, his voice actually sounded a little frightened. Jade had to grin; Roger could be brave facing a vampire in a room full of wizards, but when he ran into Malfoy in an empty corridor he almost peed in his pants. "I mean I always thought he was more of a coward than a .. fighter." The boy quickly added, trying to regain his dignity.

Jade just shrugged. "I never noticed." She said and then turned to walk down the corridor in the opposite direction. "See you tomorrow, Roger."

As she made her way up to the Gryffindor Tower she felt that familiar mixture of anger and worry inside her. The way Draco could still ignore her after everything that had happened annoyed her, but then again what on earth had happened to his face? !

She hadn't noticed this in the dream.. But she knew that in her dreams, she would only see 'her' version of him, no matter what he really looked like. And those bruises did not look older than a few days.

The feeling of worry and trepidation sustained during the next two weeks. February arrived and Jade didn't see him again, but she knew that he wasn't okay. Blaise told her that he had been skipping classes more than ever now and only ever ate down in the kitchens alone, Crabbe and Goyle had told him that. Somehow she felt the need to be there for him, convinced that he did need her right now. But he never came to her.

* * *

_Draco's p.o.v._

Draco slammed the door of the Vanishing Cabinet shut. It still did not work and he was completely exhausted by now. He had skipped his double Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson this afternoon and had worked on the Cabinet for four hours, but it was pointless. He knew that he simply had to make it work and he had to succeed soon, but right now he just wanted to break down in despair. He needed to get out of this blasted room.

He made his way through the rows and rows of hidden objects and finally found the door that led out of the Room of Requirement. He stepped outside and nodded towards Crabbe and Goyle, who were currently looking like two first-year students thanks to some Polyjuice Potion, Draco had stolen from Professor Slughorn. The two of them quickly made their way down the corridor and Draco followed. But he didn't want to go back to the Common Room; he needed a quiet place where he had some peace to clear his head again.

After his aunt had taught him Occlumency during the summer, Draco had quickly realized that he couldn't only hide his feelings from others, but from himself, too. Somehow he had been able to divide his mind, to shut everything away that would restrain him. And after that one night at the end of the Christmas holidays about three weeks ago, he had been able to pull himself back together again. Those curses had made it impossible for a moment to think straight, but he knew that blocking his emotions off was the only thing that had helped him survive during those recent few months.

But his fears and nightmares would never go away again, even though they might be hidden deeply inside him. Most of all he was still scared to fail and die; he knew the Dark Lord would not forgive his family a second failure and he carried such a huge weight on his shoulders. He had to take the old man's life to save the lives if his family and his own. It was a heavy burden and it made Draco feel like he had aged a lot during the last months. He never wanted to be like this. He never wanted to have that ugly skull on his arm. But yet here he was and he couldn't do anything about it. He felt like a soldier that was sent to fight at the front of the battlefield, where he was sure to die. And right now there were only very few things that kept him going.

One of the things had left an incredibly huge hole inside him. He was missing her so badly by now. Every time he let himself think of her lately, he just wanted to break down and cry. He couldn't even think her name without feeling his throat tighten. He knew he had probably hurt her badly and he still told himself that it was better if they tried to stay apart, but it hurt like hell.

He remembered how Slughorn's _Amortentia_ had smelled so tantalizingly after Jade that he had felt the sudden urge to just drown himself in this stuff. And somehow he felt that the longer he avoided her, the larger the hole inside him grew. Those were wounds, even time couldn't heal.

Finally he had stepped inside the boy's bathroom on sixth floor and as he stared into the mirrors, which were lining the walls, he didn't even recognize the face that was looking back at him. Quickly pushed through into one of the cubicles. He sat down onto the closed lid of the toilet and buried his head in his hands. Somehow deeply inside him he realized that there was no point in pretending anymore. He would never become a real Death Eater; he might have the skull on his arm, but he still had his heart in his chest. He had tried to change it, but to no avail. Occlumency only could get you so far and he was not one of those, who could hide from themselves. He had reached his limit.

Usually he never cried when he was feeling down, he had always been too scared of the sound it made. But here, where nobody could see him, he finally let his tears stream out of his eyes, only to wipe them away again angrily; he felt so pathetic, so weak. But now he couldn't control himself any longer, and he opened the door, that was deeply hidden in his mind, and did something he had never done before: he let out every single memory of the girl.

How he had held her in his arms and how he had kissed her. How they had fought in the snow and how they had shared their first kisses in the Prefects Bathroom. He was letting out small sobs right now, but he didn't care anymore. He just hurt so badly.

But somehow even in this hurt he found more consolation than in keeping his mind shut off from all feelings and thoughts of her.

After a while a pearly-white head pushed through the still closed door of his cubicle. It was Moaning Myrtle; she looked at him with a worried expression and said "I was just wandering through some pipes, when I heard somebody cry in here. I thought it might be you. What has happened? You know you can tell me."

Draco shook his head, he felt embarrassed that the only person he felt he could talk to was already dead. But at least she had listened to him and promised she would never tell that he visited her.

"I can't do it anymore." that was all he said to her.

Now her full body flowed into his cubicle and she crouched down in front of him and patted his shoulder, the icy feeling did not surprise him anymore. She waited until he started to talk again.

"I thought I could just block everything out, but I can't. It keeps catching up with me. I miss her so badly!" with the last word his voice toppled over and he hid his face in his hands again.

"Are you talking about a girl?" Myrtle asked, sounding a little jealous.

Draco just nodded and tried to stifle a sob that crept up his throat. Now that he had opened his heart again, the hurt he felt was just overwhelming him and he was unable to stop it. He didn't even want to; somehow he even enjoyed all this pain as it was all he had left of Jade.

"Please, tell me what happened, Draco." The ghost said soothingly.

And Draco started to talk, a little shaky as he tried desperately not to break down again.

"I broke us apart. I thought it would be easier this way. But I was wrong.. And now I miss her so much...

"I always knew that she was the one who held my heart. And I thought I would be able to cope with it.. But now I really see that she took my soul as well. The tiniest hope of being with her some day is the only thing that keeps me from jumping down the Astronomy tower these days. But I ruined everything. I don't think she will take me back, ever again."

Merlin, talking about this was just like ripping his heart into pieces.

"But why do you think that? What did you do to her?" Myrtle asked him.

"Trust me, I ruined it. If I was her, I wouldn't want to talk to me ever again. I even think that there is another boy now."

As he spoke those words the acute pain of jealousy flared up inside him again. He remembered how he had hit Roger Davies with the Stinging Spell in the face after he had seen them outside Slughorn's party. Davies had moved in to kiss her and Draco had felt pure fury and loathing inside of him. For a moment he had wanted to use the Cruciatus Curse on him, but he had been too close to Jade. He remembered the way the boy had looked at her face, the way he had touched her skin; it was more than Draco could stand.

But that stupid git did not feel the same about her as he did! He knew that. Nobody felt the same way about Jade as he did. And if anyone touched her again, he would probably curse them into a bloody pulp. He couldn't stand the thought of it.

He shook his head and said with a strained voice "I never thought I would ever say this, but I love her. I love her above anything, Myrtle."

The ghost smiled at him now; apparently she was touched by his confession, and asked "Does the other boy love her, too? And does she love him?"

"No." Draco shook his head. He had seen the wide-eyed look on Jade's face as Davies had approached her. She had looked a little scared. "No, she doesn't. But I don't think she loves me either. Maybe she did once, but she doesn't anymore. Nobody would after everything I've done."

Myrtle shook her head. "Draco, even though I'm not exceptionally thrilled that there is another girl in your life, I need to tell you something. If she really loved you, then it does not just go away. I know you have much trouble in your life right now. But maybe she'll understand. Maybe she'll give you another chance. Who is 'she' by the way?" Myrtle asked curiously.

Draco sniffed. "Jade Heywood."

Myrtle pursed her lips. "Ooh, she is a pretty one. Usually I don't really like those pretty girls. Most of them are incredibly stuck up, you know. But before the holidays Heywood was in my toilet when this mean girl Pansy Parkinson teased a younger student. Parkinson really reminds me of Olive Hornby sometimes; the girl who teased me before I died, you remember. And Jade stood up to Parkinson and defended the other girl. That really impressed me. I wish someone had done that for me at the time. First I had thought Jade hid from Parkinson... ooh!" Suddenly Myrtle's eyes grew very large and then she started giggling uncontrollably.

"What in the name of Merlin's saggy left...?" Draco spluttered out, but Myrtle silenced him with a meaningful look.

"Back then I thought she might be scared of Parkinson as well. But now I remember what Parkinson had been telling her girlfriend before the younger girl stepped in. She was talking about you..." Myrtle stopped talking and fell back into her slightly hysterical giggling.

"What? What did Pansy say about me? Did Jade overhear?" Draco demanded, but Myrtle still was unable to talk. Draco could swear that the ghost had flushed by now. That could only mean one thing.

"Did Pansy tell that I kissed her?" Myrtle just dandled her head from one side to the other. So it was not just kissing.

"Did she tell that I.. well, that we slept together?" he spluttered out the words. Myrtle resumed with her hysterical giggling and nodded her head violently.

Oh Merlin! How did Pansy dare to tell such lies? She could be such a pain sometimes. But Myrtle had said that this had happened before the holidays, hadn't she? So Pansy hadn't even talked about the night of the Party... But with Blaise's story about how Pansy had slept in his bed, Jade had to think that Pansy's story was true by now.

"And Jade overheard that?" he asked Myrtle, who nodded at this. Draco shot up from the toilet seat, suddenly wanting nothing more than to set the rumour straight. He didn't want Jade to think that he would do something like that. He always knew that there was only one girl he would want to sleep with and it was NOT Pansy Parkinson!

"Myrtle! This is a lie! Pansy was lying! What do I do now?"

Myrtle quickly stopped her giggling and looked at him, her mouth forming a silent 'Oh'.

"Myrtle, please can you help me? I need to talk to Jade. In need to clear this up... clear everything up. But I can't just walk up to her in the middle of school. Could you please try to find her for me? Please, Myrtle! Tell her that I would be waiting for her in our study room, can you do that? I'd do anything, really." He was suddenly feeling pretty desperate. It took a lot for a Malfoy to be begging like this.

"Anything?" Myrtle looked at him, hopefully. Draco swallowed, fearing what might come now, and nodded determinedly.

Myrtle came close now and laid her hands on his shoulders, her eyes closed tightly behind her horn-rimmed glasses. She leaned up into Draco and pursed her lips.

Merlin, no. It was pretty obvious what she wanted him to do now. But kissing Moaning Myrtle was pretty.. gross... Well, anything for Jade. So he quickly closed the distance to the ghost and gave her the tiniest peck on her lips, barely touching her cold ghostly sphere.

"But don't you ever tell anyone, Myrtle!" he whispered.

Her eyes shot open and, giggling again, she flowed out of the cubicle backwards. She called out to him "I'll go search the girl now. It probably won't take too long. I'll send her to that study room of yours. Don't worry, if she doesn't want to go, I do have effective ways of convincing people."


	36. Chapter 36

_A/N: Thank you again for all your reviews :) I really hope you like this chapter.. I personally had a great time writing the last part.. I guess you'll see why in a moment ;)_

* * *

Jade was sitting in the library next to Blaise on a Tuesday afternoon. Now that February had arrived she slowly had to start revising for her N.E.W.T. exams if she wanted to receive good grades. The amount of material she had to go through simply was immense. At least she wasn't alone as Blaise, being the loyal friend he was, kept her company as he did his homework for Professor Vector's class.

And so they sat in silence for the entire rest of the afternoon and would only talk to each other in hushed voices from time to time. Jade was just going through her notes from last year as she heard excited giggling from around an isle of bookshelves and as she turned her head up she saw Ginny's ex-boyfriend Michael Corner emerge, pulling a smiling girl after him by her hand. It was Chloé.

Jade threw a furtive look over at Blaise, but he showed no sign of reaction. His talk with Chloé had gone more than bad. Jade knew that he had tried to open up his heart to her, but it wasn't enough; she had shot him down. And in Blaise's eyes this was pretty much unforgivable. And so he dipped his quill into the pot of ink with a casual movement and resumed his work without even blinking as the blonde girl came closer towards them. Jade noticed how the smile dropped from Chloé's pouty lips as she saw the two of them sitting there. She let go of Michael's hand now and whispered something into his ear before she walked out of sight alone.

"I think she's going out with him now." Jade whispered, stating the obvious.

"I heard. I think he was after her for quite some time." Blaise mumbled, still looking down upon his piece of parchment. Now that Chloé was out of sight Jade could see that he wasn't really as indifferent as he pretended to be. Imperceptible for anyone but her, his body seemed unusual tense.

"I'm sorry, Blaise." she said in a soft voice.

"Don't be. I guess she wasn't who I thought she was after all."

Jade knew, as did Blaise, that Chloé was exactly who he thought she was. But Jade also was sure that the girl needed more from Blaise than one apology and after that simple resignation. She needed him to fight for her. But Blaise wouldn't. He had so many issues with trusting people and letting them in that he'd rather let her walk away from him than open up further. He'd only need more time to realize that.

Jade sighed and looked around in the library. The Ravenclaw boys sat at a table over in a corner; Roger winked at her and Jade forced a smile. Even though they were technically on good terms, Jade hadn't really warmed up to him again. It was just that every time she saw him, she had this uncomfortable feeling and she knew that she was avoiding him. She just couldn't bring herself to enjoy his company anymore. She was actually wondering why she even liked him in the first place. And it made her feel bad.

"Jade?" Blaise's voice stirred her up from her reverie. "Could you hand me that book over there?"

"Sure." she mumbled and leaned across the table to fetch it for him. As she moved to reach it over she looked at her best friend and a weird thought crossed her mind.

"Blaise, I think we should do the Unbreakable Vow." she said suddenly.

He shot her a quizzical look as he flipped through the pages of the book. "On what?"

"On the fact that we _never ever_ kiss each other." She said, sounding dead serious. Blaise took a quick glance over at the Ravenclaw table and smirked, but shook his head. "Oh, I wouldn't do that."

Jade shot him one shocked wide-eyed look, making him laugh a little. Then the dark boy put the book down on the table and leaned back in his chair. "You know, I see us two together in about... eighty years... when we finally realize that all we got left is each other. We might share a few kisses then."

"If I'm that old I don't need to kiss anyone anymore.." Jade muttered. She looked at Roger again; he was currently winking at yet another girl. She groaned inwardly. "We should take the Oath!"

Blaise only shrugged now and turned back to his book. "I guess we could." This answer satisfied Jade and she turned her eyes back onto her own notes. But Blaise's words just wouldn't leave her mind now. A moment later her head turned up again. "Do you really think we'll end up like that?"

"I only think I will." He said darkly as the chandeliers inside the library sprang into life. It was getting dark outside.

"It would be a wasted life."

But Blaise shook his head. "Nah, it wouldn't. It's not wasted if you got someone you care about. No matter who it is."

His words made her smile and then another thought popped up in her head. "I think we shouldn't wait until we're ninety-six."

Again his dark eyes met hers, this time he looked a little surprised. "Meaning?"

"I just think that if we reach our forties and still are alone, we should marry." She smiled one of her biggest smiles at him and this time he really laughed out loud. Jade looked affronted at his reaction. "You don't want to marry me?"

"Oh, I'd marry you in a second." He chuckled, only sounding half-serious. "But I don't think you of all people will wind up alone."

"But if I did.." she started, but he interrupted her. "What makes you so afraid of that? You're too young. Sixteen. And there are so many guys.." Then Blaise hesitated, he had seen the look on Jade's face. "Ah, I understand." He said silently and nodded his head, more to himself. "So you'd rather marry your best friend than ever try to fall in love with someone else?"

Jade looked a little sheepish now; Blaise had got her.. just like he always did. She just couldn't imagine to ever let a boy, who wasn't Draco, get closer to her. She didn't want to be touched by another one.. or kissed.. or go even further with them...

"What if it never stops, Blaise?" She asked him. And even though her question was slightly taken out of the context, Blaise's look told her that he understood what she was asking. They always did that, talking to each other as if the other one could read their mind. And more often than not, it really worked.

"Don't waste your time with these thoughts, Jade. Just live your life. Things will happen or they won't. But I'm sure everything will work out in the end."

She smiled at him and rolled up her parchment. "I told Hermione I'd meet her up in the Tower at six. I think I need to get going now. See you at breakfast tomorrow, Blaise."

The boy only nodded curtly and then resumed his homework. Jade grabbed her bag, brought a few books back to their shelves and then left the library. Quickly she made her way up to the Gryffindor Tower, taking one of those hidden passageways that would get her there quicker. She was just emerging from behind a door pretending to be a bookshelf on fifth floor and turned into the corridor ahead as Moaning Myrtle came floating out of the wall.

* * *

Half an hour later Jade stood in front of the tapestry of the dancing Banshees on sixth-floor, Myrtle was still right behind her. She took a deep breath, braced herself and then pushed the tapestry to the side. For a moment she hesitated, but then she knocked on the door and opened it slowly. Excitement and nervousness shot up in her, making her feel fidgety.

Draco was pacing the room along the window side as she entered. As she closed the door behind her again, she couldn't help but feel a slight panic rise inside her. She had no idea what was about to happen now and somehow she felt scared. A part of her had known that this was coming, but now that it was there it had come so fast. Finally she was here, completely alone with him and he was about to tell her everything. For a moment her hand rested on the door handle, her back was still turned towards him. But then she turned around and saw him standing in the middle of the room, looking back at her, and for a moment that was all they did.

Then he spoke. "I didn't think you'd come." His voice sounded deeper than usual and a little hoarse. Jade did not know what to answer to this. Now that she finally stood in front of him, her mind was oddly blank as if all the questions and thoughts had just be wiped off it. She only wanted to hear what _he_ had to say.

Slowly she made her way further into the room, looking at him observantly but remaining silent.

"I'm glad you did though..." Draco added and watched as she made her way past him and sat down on an armchair by the fireplace. She turned her head and stared into the fire, waiting for the moment when he'd speak again. There was a very weird tension lingering in the room. Both of them knew that their conversation was balancing on a knifes' edge. This would either bring them closer together again.. or this would be the last conversation, they ever shared.

The crackling of the fire and Draco's steps were the only noises that could be heard as he followed her and sat down onto the couch. Jade heard him take a deep breath and cast a swift look at his face; he looked horrible. His face was paler than it had ever been and the dark circles under his slightly bloodshot eyes stood out distinctly. The skin on his face looked thin and transparent, like parchment. And he even looked skinnier than she remembered him to be; probably because he wasn't playing Quidditch anymore and not attending the meals in the Great Hall regularly. As he sat down and turned to look at her, the light of the fire made him look even gaunter; somehow his Adam's apple had become more prominent.

His face had lost this distinct chubbiness of youth; he looked a lot older now and more masculine. His jaw-line had become a little stronger and his hair looked tousled as if he had run his hands through it a lot tonight. And even though he looked like he had just got out of a war, there was something new about him that drew her in. She felt slightly reminded of the vampire from Slughorn's party as she looked at him. They had the same foreboding aura about them.. well, and they both looked slightly dead.. And even though it was disturbing, it attracted her.

And then he began to speak and as Jade listened, she looked deeply into his eyes; they were stormy grey.

"Jade.. I don't even know where to begin. I know I owe you an explanation. And I want to apologize. I do not have an excuse for anything I did to you over the last few months. I wish I had some noble reason to have acted the way I did. But I haven't.. It was just pure selfishness.. I thought it would be easier for me to fulfil the task, which was given to me, if you weren't around. If I just shut you out of my life. You always were the one person, who stirred my conscience. And I just thought that if you weren't there anymore, I could just carry on without those nagging thoughts in the back of my mind. You know my aunt taught me Occlumency over the summer and somehow I did not only shut my thoughts and feelings off from the world, but also from myself.." he took a deep breath to steady himself and seeing that Jade had apparently nothing to say to this, he went on

"But leaving you was probably the dumbest idea I ever had in my life...I wanted to break down the moment you walked away from me.. It probably was the worst feeling, I ever felt; but still I tried to pull through with it. And now I can't do this anymore and neither do I want to.. I no longer have the strength to stay away from you. Before I knew you, I really had nobody to turn to. And now you're gone.. you're no longer by my side. It makes me want to give up.."

He lowered his head and rested it in his hands, his elbows propped up on his knees. "I feel like scum for doing this to you.."

Automatically she folded her arms in front of her chest and thought for a moment about what he had said. She shook her head absentmindedly; so he had really done this to her just because he wanted to make it easier for him, hadn't he? He could have talked to her and explained, but no, he had obviously been too much of a coward to do that. It hurt Jade more than she had expected to hear this; this reason didn't justify the pain she had been through. He could have done this in another way, but the fact that he chose this one really showed what an arrogant ass he was. He had ripped her heart into pieces only because he didn't have the guts to face her. He had ruined everything they had, everything they were.

And now he came crawling back to her, expecting her to forgive him and be there for him. She shot him a look that conveyed all the disdain she felt at the moment and saw how his face fell as his eyes met hers.

"Jade, I made a mistake.."

And now Jade nodded. People made mistakes.. And to his defence: not every sixteen year old boy had to fulfil some dark task for You-Know-Who in order to save the lives of the ones he loved. She knew she was much too forgiving a nature than to leave him right now. It was obvious that he needed her. And there had been a time when she really had loved him very much.. But still she wasn't sure if she would ever be able to trust him again.

"I don't even know what to say right now." were the only words she could muster at first. Then she said "You know, Draco. What you did really hurt me. You weren't just any boy to me. I gave it all up for you. And all I got was a slap in the face." Bitterness and hurt were mixed in her voice and even though she had feared that she might cry as soon as she spoke, she didn't feel like crying right now. She would not show how weak she really was in front of him. "And all those last months you treated me as if I was completely at your disposal. You showed no respect for me. I mean seriously, you kiss me, take Parkinson to your bed the same night and then take my potion? I will never let myself be treated that way again!"

Draco stood up now and made his way over to her chair, looking agitated. "Jade, I heard about the rumours Pansy has been telling in the castle.. They are lies! All of them. I never touched her. I never would. I swear that night of the Christmas Party, she came to my bed when I was asleep. I got the shock of my life when I saw her lying next to me the next morning. I know she claims that something happened, but there was nothing!"

She looked into his eyes, but she could not tell if he was saying the truth. And so she decided to say something, she knew would hurt him. "Draco, I don't even think that that is my business anymore. Not after everything. You can bed as many slutty girls as you want.. Just don't kiss me right before you do it, please."

That sentence had certainly hit home. He looked as if she had slapped him, but gulped it down. "I just wanted to tell you.. I feel, it sullied our memory.. I really fucked it up this time, didn't I?"

Jade stood up now, too, and looked into his eyes again, those deep stormy grey eyes, she had missed so much. It felt as if they had just broken up. Not that they had been together, but somehow her words echoed in her mind as if they had been final. And the moment she looked into his eyes, she knew that it had been her own hurt that had made her say those words. She didn't mean them. She never wanted him to kiss any other girl, only her. And she only wanted him. Of course he was her business. He was so much more than that to her.

Her breathing became shaky as she lost herself in his eyes. He took a step nearer now and Jade turned her head up a little further to look at him. "Nothing happened?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "Nothing happened. I would never do that."

She closed her eyes and nodded. "I believe you." Then she opened her eyes again and saw that he had come a little closer still. "I need more time." She said.

"Of course." He answered. His face was very near hers now; she reached out and stroked some of his hair out of his eyes. They looked at each other and Jade couldn't help but feel her heart beat faster again. It was a moment between them and then it passed. Jade drew her hand back again.

After a moment she said, very silently. "You look tired, Draco. You should get some sleep."

And just as she wanted to step around him, he caught her hand in his. "Don't..." but he didn't let go. The close proximity to him made her feel quivery. The impact of his touch was greater than she had expected it. She looked down at their hands. And for the first time in a long time she did not want to cry.

She felt as if she had a full body-bind charm on her as Draco moved in closer. He pulled her hand up now and rested it on his chest.

"I lied." he whispered "Back then when I said, I didn't..when I said, you were wrong.. I lied." and Jade knew what he meant. Did he still love her?

She looked up at him again and even though there was a part of her that wanted nothing more than to give in and let him kiss her, there was something else that was holding her back. She pulled her hand away from him; it felt too soon for him to be touching her like this. She really did need more time to think about everything. There was no answer, she could give him right now.

She saw in his eyes that he understood. "I'll wait for you, Jade. Like I promised I would."

She nodded and then, without saying another word, she turned away from him and made her way to the door. Before she closed it behind her, she looked at him once more and somehow her heart ached as she saw him standing there without her. She wanted to be with him, but she couldn't right now. It just wasn't that easy. And so she pulled the door shut and walked away.

* * *

During the next days Jade neither confided in Hermione nor in Blaise; somehow she wanted to keep her conversation with Draco to herself. She didn't want to hear anyone else's opinion on this, before she had formed her own. But at the moment her mind still was too much of a mess to know what she really wanted. Draco wanted her back, that much was clear. But did she want him back, too? She had always thought she would. But now she wasn't so sure anymore. All those thoughts simply scared her.

And so it was only a few days later when the first Saturday of February arrived and with that the time for their first Apparition class. And as Jade walked into the Common Room that morning, the sixth-years were all chatting excitedly about what was likely to happen today. She made her way over to Harry and Hermione, who had been waiting for her. Surprisingly Ron joined their group, too. He rubbed the palms of his hands together.

"So – Apparition." He said, grinning. "Should be a laugh, eh?"

"Well, actually," Hermione retorted, her voice sounding poisonous. "It is quite dangerous. You could splinch yourself; separate a few of your body parts, you know. Maybe you could even get rid of that mouth ulcer of yours... Oh wait, that was Lav-Lav, wasn't it?"

Ron looked thunderstruck for a second, then the tips of his ears turned bright red and he stormed off, grabbing Lavender, who was standing over in a group of her friends, and vanishing with her through the portrait hole.

"Erm.. Hermione, that really was a little mean." Jade said timidly.

"Oh, you think so, Jade? Well, thank you for your opinion!" And then she threw her bushy hair over her shoulder and stalked off in a huff. Jade's facial expression resembled Ron's a great deal in that moment. Hermione had never lashed out at her like that.

"Oh, don't worry, Jade." Harry mumbled, patting her back. "She's been like that ever since I outshone her in Potions with a bezoar as an antidote... I'll go after her."

And then the boy left, too, and Jade started wandering through the corridors of the castle alone. And she was just rounding a corner as she walked straight into yet another bickering couple.

"Oh, you know what? Forget it!" An angry girl's voice hissed and then there was a swirl of red hair through the air and Ginny Weasley stormed off in a similar fashion as her older brother had just done in front of Hermione.

"What...?" Dean was saying, looking momentarily flabbergasted, but Ginny didn't even look back and vanished down the corridor.

"Did you two fight again?" Jade asked as she approached him, already knowing the answer.

"By now the question really is when the two of us are _not_ fighting. Seriously, what is the point in having a relationship if all you ever do is jump each other's throats? I mean, I could deal with this when there still were times when we'd make up in between all the fighting." Dean told her as they walked down to the Great Hall side by side. "But ever since Christmas it keeps getting worse. You know, I used to admire Ginny for her fierceness and outspokenness, but I'm really coming to realize that she simply is a bloody pighead. The day Ginevra Weasley will admit that she was wrong about something, hell will freeze over."

He took a deep breath and Jade realized that he had been waiting for a long time to tell someone these thoughts of his.

"I know when I talk like this I must sound like a really bad boyfriend. But it's hard to be wrong all the time.. _Everything_ is my fault."

"No, Dean." Jade said, feeling pity for the boy once more. "It's nobody's fault." She had to bite down on her tongue to refrain from telling him to break up with Ginny. But she could see that Dean really cared about the girl. They had reached the large double doors of the Great Hall by now and before they entered Dean turned towards Jade once more.

"Thank you for listening to me, Jade. I know it must be a little weird for you, being friends with Ginny and all. But you really are a good listener." he grinned at her and she smiled back at him.

"Any time, Dean." She said kindly. He let out a little chuckle and clapped his hand on her shoulder. As they entered the Great Hall Jade noticed that a silvery pair of grey eyes had been watching their interaction. Draco stood tall in between his group of cronies, his arms crossed in front of his chest and a frown on his face. It appeared as if Crabbe was talking to him and after one derogatory look at Dean he turned around again.

Jade followed her fellow Gryffindor house mate further into the Hall. The charmed ceiling was a stormy dark blue and shredded clouds were moving fast as the rain pattered heavily against the glass windows. The large tables had disappeared and the four Heads of Houses were standing at the front of the Hall, joined by a particular frail looking Ministry wizard. Apparently this was their Apparition Instructor. All the students had gathered in front of the teachers as they called for quiet; Jade stood on her toes to get another look at the wizard, who introduced himself as Wilkie Twycross now.

Dean turned around to look at her. "Come, get in front so you can see more." He said and pulled her up right in front of him. Jade could see now that Twycross looked oddly colourless... maybe it was a side-effect of excessive apparition.. Right in that moment Professor McGonagall's sharp voice interrupted Twycross in his speech. "Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!"

Jade turned around to see Draco, who was standing much closer to her than she remembered him standing. He was still talking to Crabbe and took a step away from the other boy now. They looked as if they had been having an argument.

"I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you." Twycross was saying after a small explanation about the basics of apparition.

Dean, who was still standing right behind her, took hold of her shoulders now and pushed her a little to the front, then he himself took a few steps backwards. There was a dull thud and Jade turned around; Dean had walked backwards and right into Draco, who was sneering at him.

"I'd suggest you move further along, Thomas." He said silently; this slightly dangerous tone was still in his voice. Dean wasn't looking for a fight, so he just shrugged and moved to stand next to Draco begrudgingly.

"Thank you," said Twycross after a minute of scrambling and jostling within the Hall. "Now then.. " And with a wave of his wand ancient-looking wooden hoops appeared on the floor in front of them. He explained that they were supposed to apparate directly into them and after a moment it finally was time for their first try.

'_Destination, Determination, Deliberation.'_ Jade repeated Twycross' words in her head and then she spun gracefully on her heel. But nothing happened. She looked around the Hall and saw that Neville was lying flat on his back and Ernie Macmillan was jumping into his hoop in a mid-air pirouette, making Dean bark out in laughter. Draco was still right behind her and she could feel his gaze upon her.

For the next hour the students continued spinning around, but nothing more spectacular than Susan Bones splinching her leg off happened. All the spinning slowly made Jade feel dizzy and as she turned around on her heel for what felt like the 301st time, she accidentally kicked against her hoop on the floor and sent it flying a few feet away from her. As she bent down low to pull it back into place she heard a rustling movement behind her, followed by the sound of a body crashing to the ground.

Quickly she turned around to see what had happened. Dean was lying spread-eagled on the floor, picking himself up slowly again. His eyes turned on Draco now, who was smirking in a suspiciously smug way. As the Slytherin noticed Dean's eyes upon him, he raised one of his brows in a challenging manner.

"Must've stumbled." Dean muttered a second later and pushed himself up from the floor. Jade shot Draco a scrutinizing look. Had he just hexed Dean? Or had the boy really tripped over his own feet?

Right in that moment Twycross ended their lesson and as the hoops vanished from the Hall, Jade was still looking into Draco's eyes. He already looked a little better by now, not as tired anymore, but still there was this certain something about him that hadn't been there before. And as the other students started leaving the Great Hall, she slowly walked up to him. It was as if something invisible drew her closer to him and as she brushed past him, she gave him a certain look, she knew he wouldn't be able to forget so soon. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw his body turn as he looked after her... and she couldn't resist giving him her best strut.

As Jade followed the other students, she realized that this was something new between them.. This heavy tension hadn't been there before.. Not before they had slept together. Oh Merlin.. She knew what it was now.

She turned to look over her shoulder. Draco was still standing there looking after her, his grey eyes flicked up to her face again. Jade bit down upon her lip once more as this very distinct hot feeling started building up inside her. Images were flying through her mind as she turned her head back around and left the Great Hall.

She needed some chocolate or something..

* * *

Over the next week Jade saw Draco more often than usual. He turned up for the meals again and even though they only ever saw each other from across the distance, each time they did her heart sped up. And this certain lasciviousness, she felt back then in the Great Hall, still wouldn't leave her. She had never thought she'd ever feel this needy, but here she was. She really wanted him badly. But then again she knew that sleeping with him would probably be the dumbest thing she could do right now.. But he simply had never looked more gorgeous than at the moment..

But the thought of sleeping with him quickly remembered her of what had happened the last time they had done it. And all the hurt she had gone through back then. She felt torn between her past and her future, between what had happened and what could happen. Once again she realized that it just wasn't as simple as she would have liked. Of course she wanted him, but the decision whether or not to get back together with him just could not be made quickly. It implied so much.

And as the week wore on her nights were getting more and more sleepless. Her thoughts kept her awake and as the weekend arrived and Friday slowly turned into Saturday Jade couldn't sleep at all. She had known that this night might probably get worse.. After midnight it was officially the 14th of February.. It was _that_ day again. Restlessly she turned around and around again in her bed and crossed that point where it didn't even feel cosy anymore. Sometimes she would fall asleep for half an hour, have a weird dream and wake up again, only feeling more restless. Slowly she got fed up with herself and as her eyes travelled around the bedroom, she noticed her cape hanging over her trunk; the moonlight glimmered upon it. Weirdly enough she hadn't noticed it lying there for the whole time and suddenly it gave her an idea. She wanted to get out of here. As noiselessly as she could, she stood up from her bed and pulled over some fresh clothes. It was probably very cold outside and so she pulled over her cape and layered a thick winter cloak above it, then she made her way out of the dormitory.

As she passed the portrait of the Fat Lady, she could hear her silent snoring. Apparently everybody in this school could sleep happily tonight except her; she hoped for Filch and Mrs Norris to be vast asleep as well. She didn't think she would really get into major trouble to be out at this time, but it still would be annoying to run into either of them.

As she passed a large clock somewhere in the castle she could see that it was about five o'clock already, but as it was February the sky outside was still completely dark and only the moon illuminated the grounds of Hogwarts. As Jade finally reached the huge double doors of the Entrance Hall, she realized that there had been one massive flaw in her plan: they were locked.

She groaned silently. Of course they were locked. Hogwarts wouldn't be one of the safest places in the country if it let its doors stay open during the night. Quickly she thought about her options and remembered a little balcony only a few stairs and corridors away from the Entrance Hall. As she reached the door leading to it a moment later, it was locked as well. But this time she had more luck.

"Alohomora." She whispered, tapping the door knob, and the lock clicked distinctly. As she stepped out on the balcony, she looked down to the grounds. She wasn't that high up, after all she was just on first floor. So she concentrated hard and drew elegant small circles in the air with her wand; a rope ladder appeared, leading down the facade of the castle. As a Quidditch player Jade wasn't afraid of heights at all and quickly she made it down the ladder and let it dissolve into thin air again as soon as she had set foot on solid ground.

She was somewhere near the greenhouses now and as she turned to look across the grounds, she inhaled the cold, fresh air of the early morning. A thick fog lay over the grass and Jade could see now that it was full moon. She walked over the damp grass, enjoying the silence of the night and taking in the spooky view of the black lake, which was apparently the source of all this mist. She sat down somewhere along the edge of it and leaned against one of the large beech trees.

Somehow the calmness around her started to set her mind at ease. It had been buzzing with thoughts about Draco lately and she just had no idea how to deal with everything. She knew what her heart wanted, but her mind was holding her back, afraid that she might get hurt again. Somehow the idea of getting back together with him scared her. They just had no real perspective together; she would finish school in a few months and he would stay here.. or who knew where he would be. Even if they really were in love, it still would hurt her if they got separated. So wasn't it more prudent to protect herself from even more heartache by just staying friends with him? And if they really were meant to be together, wouldn't fate somehow find a way to bring her back to him in the end?

Jade liked to think about things that way; that if it really was meant to be, it would happen. But then again, weren't there times when you just had to take fate into your own hands? She let out a moan as her thoughts started to run in circles again.

In the end it was a simple question: was she willing to take a second leap, to put her heart on the line a second time? Or was she a burnt child and too afraid of risking it?

She almost was tempted to look for a daisy and play a little game of 'He loves me – He loves me not', but seeing that it was February she probably wouldn't have that much luck with finding one. Then a sound ripped through the silence of the night; it only was the crackling of a few twigs on the ground behind her. But Jade reacted instantly, drew out her wand and pointed it behind her.

Her senses hadn't betrayed her, a tall figure approached her with slow strides; blonde hair was gleaming in the light of the moon.

Jade lowered her wand and looked at him, her heart started beating faster. A shaky breath escaped her lips, fogging up in the cold morning air.

"You shouldn't be alone out here. It's dangerous." He spoke softly to her and Jade rose from her spot on the ground. She didn't know why, but suddenly she knew exactly what the right decision was.

"I couldn't sleep." She said silently as Draco came nearer still.

"Me neither." He answered. Jade took a few steps towards him now. The light of the moon made his fair skin glow and he looked very handsome as he turned his grey eyes to look down at her.

"Draco, I.. " she started, but then she didn't even know where to begin. She looked into his eyes and knew that he would be able to sense her feelings.

He closed the empty space between them now and carefully took her face into both of his hands. Then he moved and slowly kissed her forehead.. her temples.. her cheeks..

And as salty tears started to roll down her face, he kissed them away, too. Little sobs escaped her mouth now, each one stabbing a hole into his heart. And he pulled her towards his chest, as close as he could. The girl cried for a long time and Draco held her in his arms, stroking her tenderly and placing little kisses on her soft hair. He drowned himself in that sweet smell of hers and felt deep emotions well up inside him. He knew he had broken her heart and he knew he hadn't been there for her, when he should have been. But still, she was here now, in his arms; even though he didn't even deserve her.

As he felt her small body shiver slightly, he shortly let go of her, buttoned up his coat and engulfed her inside it, closer to his own warm body. She shouldn't be cold; she should never be cold if he could help it. And she shouldn't be sad. He had never felt this huge need to take care of someone like he wanted to take care of her in that moment. From now on he wanted to protect her from harm; like he had seen his father do with his mother. He wanted to devote everything to her; his own life if needed. There was no limit on how far he would go for her. He was scared of the sudden strength of these emotions, but he embraced them. He had never felt this emotional and even sniffed a little, hoping she wouldn't notice.

But her deep brown eyes turned up towards him now, the tears still clinging to her lashes. She even looked incredibly beautiful when she was crying. Draco smiled at her in his arms. A real man could show some emotions sometimes, couldn't he? And he leaned down and rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. Even though he wanted to kiss her, he was afraid that it was too soon for her, that she still needed more time. And she should have as much time as she needed; he would be waiting for her.

She still was sniffing quietly and Draco nuzzled his nose against her soft cheek. One of her hands, which had been resting on his chest, moved up now and cupped his jaw-line, holding him to her. Draco felt himself react strongly to her touch and had to keep himself from kissing her lips; so he kissed her neck instead.

But apparently that scared her away a little, as she inclined her head so he couldn't reach her neck anymore and drew her hand back from his face again.

"I'm sorry." He said, but she only shook her head. Then the tears came again; how he hated to see her cry. "Jade, please don't cry. Please."

She nodded her pretty little head and then snuggled against his chest again.

"I know I broke your heart.. Please let me make it right again." He whispered now, hugging her close to him. She didn't react, but Draco hoped that her tears had ebbed away now.

For a moment he thought he could stand here like this forever and just hold her in his arms. It was the only thing, which could make him happy. He had never felt like this and he was sure that she was the only one, who could make him feel this way. She really was the one for him. And he truly did love her. He had thought that he loved her for quite some time, but then again he had never felt as strongly for her as in this moment. He hadn't had much experience with love, but maybe it could grow in time. He was sure that if it grew even larger, he would certainly burst from it.

As those strange thoughts shot through his head, he realized that the sky had turned much lighter. How long had they been standing here like this? Apparently Jade realized it, too, and raised her head up to the sky. As Draco looked down on her perfectly full, pink lips it was very hard for him not to lean in and kiss her. He really ached for it.

"Jade, I.." he started and her bright eyes turned on him now; he lost himself completely in them. "..I want you to know... Jade, I love you."

Whoa, he really had said it out loud. He felt as if he had made a giant leap of faith. He felt his own heart thump strongly in his chest as he awaited her reaction.

Her lips parted slightly as she looked back into his eyes. Her tears had long been gone and Draco could see surprise in her eyes.. and emotion.

Then slowly she snaked one of her arms around his neck and pulled him close. And then she kissed him. Her lips were as soft as ever as they caressed his own tenderly. It was just a kiss on the lips and it was over before Draco could really get over his state of sheer inner jubilation. But it was full of emotion. He knew it meant something; both of them knew it did.

Then Jade pulled back again and let her arm slide down his chest. She smiled up at him and Draco wanted nothing more than to kiss her again. But he knew that she was the one to decide how they went on; it was cruel, yet wonderful at the same time.

"I think we should get back." Those were the first words she really said to him since she started crying. Draco wondered whether he had just not realized before what a beautiful voice she had. But as the meaning of her words echoed all the way back through his mind, he dreaded the impending loss of her body in his arms.

"No... I want to keep you." He said, wrapping his arms tighter around her.

She smiled at this, but shook her head. "Then they'll see us."

"I don't care." Draco knew that he wouldn't put her in any more danger than she already was by letting people see them together. It was his own neck, which would be put on the line.

"But I do.."

"I'm already doomed anyway. It makes no difference." He shrugged, feeling the hopelessness creep up inside him again. He knew he was going to fail with this task; and then he would be on the top of the Dark Lord's list. So if he was going to die anyway or flee, leaving his family behind, he wanted to be with her as long as he could.

"Draco, don't say that. You'll find a way somehow. Just don't give up hope. After all, we are all lying in the gutter; I mean look at Harry! But some of us are still seeing the stars. You'll get out of this somehow. I know you will." Her voice sounded clear and earnest.

Draco knew that those weren't just empty phrases; this girl really believed in him. And he had never expected this to give him so much strength suddenly. He would go back to this blasted Vanishing Cabinet today and just make it work; and if it didn't, he would still give his best. If he succeeded, maybe there would really be a chance of them being together. No matter which side won, they could protect each other. She might be one of Harry Potter's best friends, but still she was a pureblood. Even if the Dark Lord reigned one day, Draco would be able to get her out of this mess. And if Potter did it, (for which, if he was completely honest with himself, he hoped for) then Jade could do the same for him. If he looked at it this way, the two of them actually had a chance of being together, which was twice as high as for a couple, who fought on the same side. He just had to do his best.

His hands came up again to hold her face and he placed another affectionate kiss on her forehead. Then he let go of her.

"You'll go first. I think they opened the Entrance Hall now. They usually do it at this time."

The girl nodded now and took a step back. She looked at him and her perfect lips formed a smile once more; then a mischievous glimmer appeared in her dark brown eyes. Quicker than Draco could even react, she approached him again, stood on the tip of her toes and gave him another kiss, nibbling on his lips a little and threading her fingers through the hair above the nape of his neck. And Merlin, even though it was as short as the first one it was much, much hotter. He had no idea how this girl could do it, but he felt ready to jump her again. She walked backwards away from him now, biting her lower lip.

"That really was mean, you know." He called after her. "I had no time to prepare."

She laughed her prettiest laugh and then turned around and walked up to the castle. Draco leaned against the beech tree and followed her with his eyes, making sure that she got up there safely. Slowly he realized that a huge grin was spread on his face; he shook his head, disbelievingly. Merlin, it really was ridiculous how much in love he was with this girl.


	37. Chapter 37

A faint clattering and clanking could be heard from inside the Great Hall as Jade set her foot on the landing of the marble staircase. A few of Hogwarts' students and professors were already up for an early breakfast, but Jade didn't really recognize the sleepy faces, she came across on her way up to the Tower; her mind was somewhere entirely else.

A smile played along her lips and she bit down upon them to hide it. She turned a corner and passed an open window; the cold breeze blew around her face and carried a faint trace of his scent to her nose. It had lingered on her cloak.

She had reached the corridor that led to the Gryffindor Common Room now and just before she entered, she leaned against the cold stone wall for a moment and enjoyed this last moment she had in solitude. Her eyes were closed as she took a deep breath.

Nothing had ever felt so great than being in his arms again. The way he had taken her inside his own cloak as he had realized that she was cold, the way he had held her face in his hands as he had kissed her skin and even the way he looked at her had already shown Jade what he really felt for her, before he had even said it out loud. It had been different from all the other times they had met before. He had always been very gentle with her, but not like this. And then he had really told her that he loved her. His words still echoed in her ear and brought a swooning sensation to her stomach as she replayed them once again. It meant a lot to her and even though she hadn't said it back, she did feel the same way.

The portrait next to her swung open and quickly Jade pushed herself away from the wall and her eyes snapped open as a group of loudly chattering fourth-year boys climbed through the hole. She took the opportunity and entered right behind them. As the Common Room came into view Jade saw to her surprise that Harry and Hermione were already awake and apparently waiting for her to come down the stairs leading to her dormitory. The looks on their faces were quite surprised as they caught sight of her entering the Common Room through the portrait hole.

"Morning, Jade. Were you down at breakfast already?" Hermione asked her with a suspicious look on her face. Well, this girl was much too sharp-witted to keep a secret from her for too long anyway. So Jade just smiled "No, actually I was just out for a small walk. I couldn't sleep."

At those words Harry's green eyes shot up from behind his messy black hair. "You didn't happen to run into Malfoy, did you?" Involuntarily, Jade's eyes grew a little wider as Harry went on. "I started checking the Marauder's Map for him." He explained. "He was wandering around by the lake on his own this morning. Wonder what he's up to... Maybe he was meeting with someone."

"Well, I didn't see anything... suspicious." Jade said, expecting Harry to realize that it was her, who Draco had been meeting with. But the raven-haired boy only looked a little disappointed and then led the way out of the Common Room. As Jade turned towards Hermione, the girl was wearing a smug smile on her face. She cocked one eyebrow at Jade and then took a step forward, linking her arm with Jade's as she dragged her through the portrait hole.

"You met him, didn't you?" Hermione asked just silent enough so Harry, who was walking a few feet ahead of them, couldn't hear. Jade smiled at her friend in a way that made Hermione jump to a conclusion pretty quickly. "You're back together with him?" Her voice was a little louder now and more excited.

"No, I.." Jade started, but then she grinned and shrugged. "I don't really know. I tell you everything after breakfast, alright?"

And then Hermione nodded, even though she probably wanted to know what had happened right now, she understood that these things couldn't be discussed in a random corridor in the middle of the school. And so they followed Harry down to the Great Hall, chattering excitedly about exams and today's Apparition class, making Harry wonder why on earth girls could be so enthusiastic about these things.

* * *

Down at breakfast Draco was nowhere to be seen and Jade only caught sight of Blaise over at the Slytherin table as he was shooting daggers out of his eyes at a certain Ravenclaw, who was just giving a bunch of flowers to his beautiful blonde girlfriend. Of course, today was Valentine's Day. And Michael Corner and Chloé weren't the only couple that was parading its 'love' around the school. Throughout the Hall, students were holding hands and exchanging gifts and just as Jade reached their usual place at the end of the Gryffindor table, she heard a weird strangled noise. It was Hermione. She had just caught sight of Ron and Lavender and her nose wrinkled in disgust as they sat down next to Harry.

As Hermione continued to stare viciously at the couple, Jade simply started chatting with Ginny and loading up her plate. This was the first time in a long time that she really felt like eating again. And just as Harry joined their conversation about their next Quidditch training, Jade heard Hermione snicker silently right next to her. And as she turned to look, Jade saw that Lavender had jumped up and was storming away through the Great Hall. Ron looked a little guilty.

"Couldn't anyone of you warn me that today was Valentine's Day? How am I supposed to know this?" he groaned as he looked after Lavender's retreating figure. "Now she's mad because I didn't get her a present."

"Well," Hermione started, still smirking evilly. "If you had looked inside your calendar _once_.. "

"Really, Ronald!" Ginny joined in. "Men only need to remember a few dates throughout the year. And count on you to forget it!"

For a moment Ron opened his mouth as if he wanted to defend himself, but then he apparently changed his strategy and said "Yeah, Ginny. We all know _you _love Valentine's Day. What did you write again about Harry back when we were in second grade?" He shot a look at the boy in question. "_'__His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad.. His hair'"_ Ron recited, but then stopped as Harry choked heavily on his breakfast. He clapped his best mate on the back as he sneered at his little sister. Ginny had indeed gotten a faint blush on her face that matched perfectly with her red hair.

"Oh, stuff it, Ron." She grumbled. "You are a lost cause anyway.. Worst boyfriend ever.."

"Can't be me." Ron said, while shovelling a little more of the scrambled eggs into his mouth. "Dean already does that job quite nicely."

Ginny's eyes turned into slits now. A Weasley showdown always was a real spectacle and a few heads at the Gryffindor table had already turned into their direction. Her pretty face looked very much like her mother's as she hissed. "At least Dean doesn't forget about Valentine's Day! He'll show up in a minute and he'll have a real present for me! And you know why? Because he cares about me, Ron!"

Ron only snickered. "Sure, we'll see about that!" And then he continued with his breakfast with a content look on his face. Apparently he had already forgotten about the fight with his girlfriend. Or was he happy that she wasn't around for a second?

* * *

Ginny was still fuming as Hermione and Jade had finished their meal. The redhead wanted to stay and wait for her boyfriend and as Harry was currently enjoying spending time with his best friend without Lavender clinging to their side, Jade and Hermione had the perfect excuse to leave the table on their own. Quickly and without really talking to each other they raced up to the Common Room. Jade was simply bursting from keeping quiet the entire time and just as they had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, it flew open on its own.

A voice with an Irish accent shouted "Come on, mate! What are you waiting for? I'm starving!" And then Seamus stepped into the corridor, closely followed by Dean, who mumbled "I just have the feeling that I forgot something."

Both of them still looked a little sleepy; their shirts weren't tucked in and Dean's hair was still wet from his morning shower. Seamus, who apparently couldn't wait to stomach some breakfast, rushed down the corridor as Hermione stepped inside the Common Room.

As Dean smiled at Jade and wished her a Good Morning, the girl realized that something was certainly missing about him. She took out her wand and as she stepped closer to the boy, she waved it in the air. A bouquet of the prettiest, velvety dark-red roses appeared in mid-air, quickly joined by a box of her aunt's favourite chocolates. Jade caught them in her hands and offered them to Dean. For a second he simply looked surprised and a little bewildered.

"Well, that wouldn't have been necessary." He joked, still not really getting what Jade was playing at.

"It's Valentine's Day." She smiled at his current lack of brain power. He still didn't seem to get it and for the weirdest moment it appeared as if he thought that those were for him. Now Jade had to laugh. "Those are for Ginny. Thank me later, Dean."

And just as revelation drew upon his face and he slapped his hand against his forehead, she stepped around him and quickly followed Hermione, who had already led the way up to her dormitory.

The moment Jade entered, Hermione's face turned towards her and her look was clearly saying '_Spill it!_'. And so Jade let herself sink down onto Hermione's soft bed and started telling her the entire story. Hermione listened intently and Jade could see the emotions flicker across her friends' face as she went on. At the beginning her forehead had lain in creases and more than once one of her eyebrows had shot up; but then her face softened and as Jade's narration reached the last part at the lake, Hermione was smiling faintly. And at one point in particular, she drew in her breath.

"He told you he loved you?" she whispered, her eyes wide. "He never said that before, did he?"

Jade shook her head. They both had never said it before; she had felt like it a few times, but it had never really left her lips. She knew that it meant much to Draco. They weren't the type of people who played around with those words. If Jade ever told someone that she loved them, then she would really go to the end of the world for this person. And she was certain that Draco felt the same way.

"Did you say it back?" Hermione asked now and Jade shook her head again. "It's too early for me to say that. I can't just jump into this again.." she said and Hermione nodded.

The next hours until the start of their Apparition lesson were spent lying side by side in Hermione's bed and talking about what this morning really meant for Jade. It wasn't as if she and Draco could just go back and resume their relationship where they had ended it in autumn. Both of them had changed and everything felt so new now. Jade had no idea how it would be the next time they met. Even though he somehow still was the boy she knew so well, he had also become a young man she didn't know at all. As she saw him this morning he seemed so independent in a way, he had really become his own person and being close to him had felt more special than it used to. She didn't even know why.

Suddenly Hermione let out a little laugh and Jade turned her face towards her. "It's just such an absurd notion.. Draco Malfoy being in love with someone... besides himself." Hermione looked slightly amused at this thought, but as she saw Jade's rather blank-faced expression she understood that of course it wasn't that absurd for Jade, who had never really gotten to know Malfoy in the way Hermione had.

Suddenly Hermione's face became a little more thoughtful and she turned to look back at the ceiling of her bed again. "It is kind of sad, isn't it?" she said to Jade "I mean the two of us are really good friends, but I never got to know the boy you are in love with. And I never saw this side of him. But then again, I really do think that he can only be like this when he's around you. When he's in class he's still the same old.. ferret. I guess he simply has a Jade-specific behavioural disorder."

Jade laughed at that. You could probably see it that way. After all Blaise hated Draco, too, and he knew him a lot better than Hermione did. But even if it was a disorder, if it made him love her, everything was fine. She just wanted to keep him this time and not lose him again. And so Jade decided to take things slow; she wouldn't give it all up to him so quickly this time. If he left her again, she knew she wouldn't be able to take it.

* * *

Soon enough it was time to get back down to the Great Hall for their Apparition class and as they walked down the spiral staircase and into the Common Room again, Jade caught sight of Ginny and Dean, who were all over each other in one of those armchairs. Harry and Ron were both sitting close-by and were wearing two identical disgruntled expressions on their faces. Ron was apparently still sulking about his lost fight with Ginny and Harry.. Well, why was Harry in a bad mood?

As the boys saw the girls approaching they both stood up and quickly joined them on their way out into the corridors of the castle. Soon enough Ron and Hermione started bickering about this and that again, but even though their voices sounded annoyed Jade could see that both of them wore little smiles on their faces. She shook her head as she followed them down to the Great Hall.

Just like last Saturday, trying to apparate was a rather dreary and tedious task. The swishing of cloaks and clicking of heels could be heard throughout the Hall as the students simultaneously turned on the spot over and over again. Again Draco had taken his place right behind Jade and even though they exchanged furtive glances and small smiles with each other, there was no real chance for any further interaction. Jade still hadn't gotten the hang of Apparition, but at least she hadn't splinched herself yet like Parvati today, who had left her right arm a few feet behind.

An hour later class was over and as the students got in line to leave the Great Hall, Jade felt a body get closer behind her in the middle of the throng. She turned her face up as Draco put his hand on the small of her back. His eyes met hers, her stomach flipped and as soon as they had passed the large door, he turned and followed his fellow Slytherin classmates into the dungeons. And even this small encounter made Jade smile all the way up to her Common Room.

* * *

The largest part of Sunday was spent in bed, as Jade really had to catch up on her sleep. As she joined her friends down in the Common Room to do some of her homework during the late afternoon, she found Harry and Ron staring moodily at their notes while Hermione was scribbling furiously on a three-foot long scroll of parchment.

Jade sat down next to Harry and for a moment she thought about how she was going to approach this. She knew she had to tell him about Draco. He'd sooner or later find out on his own while studying the Marauder's Map and she wanted to tell him herself before that happened.

"Harry?" she whispered and the boy turned his face towards her. "Could I talk to you for a moment? In private?"

"Sure." He answered and clapped his book shut with enough enthusiasm to earn a disapproving look from Hermione. "Let's go up into my dormitory. It's empty right now."

Jade was a bit surprised by this suggestion; she had never been in a boys' dormitory before. But it was Harry, so she shouldn't really think too much of it. And so she followed him up the spiral staircase and into the dormitory. And before she could even start talking to him, Harry had knelt down in front of his trunk and was beginning rummaging inside it, pulling out various items and throwing them carelessly on the floor.

"Just a second, Jade." He mumbled. Then he finally found what he was looking for and pulled out the Marauder's Map. He unfurled it and spread it out on the surface of his bed, before tapping it with his wand. "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good._" Then he climbed onto his bed and watched how the castle and all its inhabitants slowly appeared on the old piece of parchment. "Come here, Jade, and help me find Malfoy."

Jade did as she was told and climbed onto the bed next to Harry, who pulled the curtains close behind her.

"In case anyone enters." He explained and Jade nodded as she took out her wand, thinking '_Lumos_!'. In the light of her wand the two of them searched the map for the tiny dot that would be labelled 'Draco Malfoy'; but he wasn't there. He wasn't down in the Slytherin Common Room, neither in the library nor in their study room. After minutes of searching for him in every corridor of the school, Harry groaned. "He's been lost from view the entire day. I kept checking..._Mischief Managed_." He muttered disappointedly while tapping the Map again.

"So Jade," he turned his face towards her "what did you want to talk about?"

"Actually.. I wanted to talk about _him_." She said as she thought '_Nox_!' to extinguish the light of her wand again.

"Did you find something out about Malfoy?" Harry asked her excitedly.

"No.. not yet.. But we are.. friends.. again. I just thought I'd tell you before you'd find out yourself. I just met him two times and we didn't talk about what he's up to."

"But you think you can get something out of him?" Harry pressed on.

"Harry, I have to be honest with you. If I had information that put him into danger if I passed them on, I would keep them to myself. I know he's on the wrong side, but he's important to me and I wouldn't betray his trust. Just as I would never betray yours."

Harry nodded, but he seemed a little sulky nonetheless. "Just tell me one thing, Jade. Is he a Death Eater?"

Jade let out a deep breath and looked Harry in the eye. She thought she could tell him this; he practically knew already anyway. And so she nodded almost imperceptibly. "Did you see his Mark?" he asked.

She lowered her head; then nodded again. "I did. But don't tell anyone."

Harry let out a low growling noise. "I won't. Well, I keep telling Dumbledore about it, but he won't listen anyway. In fact he doesn't even seem to be interested at all. After I told him how Snape offered Malfoy his help, he simply told me that he didn't think that it was of any importance! Of course, he trusts Snape to keep an eye on Malfoy.. But _I_ don't trust that git!"

Agitatedly, Harry folded up the Map again and just wanted to pull the curtains of the bed open as the two of them heard the door to the dormitory open.

"Ah.. See, it's empty!" Jade recognized Dean's voice and turned to look at Harry. She might have imagined it, but she thought she caught a glimpse of horror on his face. Quickly he ripped the curtains to the side and instantly Jade heard Dean's voice again. "Oh, Harry!" he said, sounding a little sheepish, yet amused. "Sorry, mate. I thought nobody was in here... Wait, is there someone with you?" he added curiously.

Jade peered out from behind the bedpost and waved unenthusiastically over at Dean and Ginny, who were still standing in front of the door in an intimate embrace.

"Jade? !" Ginny's face didn't just look surprised, she looked shocked. It was clear that she didn't understand the situation.

"We were just... checking something." Harry spluttered out without really thinking about his words. To Jade and Dean this whole situation wasn't a big deal. Clearly they had just sat next to each other on the same bed. But the way Ginny was looking at Harry and Harry was trying to explain this situation somehow seemed awkward.

"Checking something?" Ginny's voice sounded a little higher than usual. "Yeah." Harry climbed out of bed now and Jade watched the two of them with a rather bewildered look on her face. It looked as if Harry was defending himself in the same way a boy would after he had cheated on his girlfriend..

"No worries.." Dean was still grinning. "Come on, Gin. We'll find another place." And then he took her hand and opened the door again. And just before Ginny followed her boyfriend out of the room, she gave Jade a look that was so full of hurt that Jade immediately felt guilty. She stood up from Harry's bed and followed the couple out of the door.

"You're coming, Harry?" she asked. But the boy had fallen backwards onto his bed again, staring expressionlessly at its ceiling. "I'll follow in a second." Jade heard him say before she closed the door behind her.

As she walked back to Ron and Hermione, who were surprisingly still sitting at the same table together, she realized that Harry had developed feelings for Ginny. She had never noticed that before and was almost certain that Harry hadn't either.

* * *

Until dinner time she sat next to Hermione and, after telling her shortly about the incident in the boys' dormitory, she studied the entire time. They were just packing up their things when a girl appeared to Jade's side.

"Oh, hey Chloé!" Jade smiled, wondering what the girl wanted from her.

"Hi Jade! Do you have a second?" she asked and Jade nodded in return. "I just wanted to ask you something. Professor Slughorn told me that if I wanted to take my O.W.L.s next year, I'd better start with some private tutoring. He told me that you were one of his best students, so I thought I'd just ask if you were interested in coaching me once a week. I would pay you, of course!" she added

"Do you have any specific problems or is it Potions in general?" Jade asked.

"In general, I guess. All those years with Snape I really hated it and never listened. I feel as if I haven't learned anything. So now with Slughorn I realize that it is a fascinating subject, I just have this huge gap in my knowledge."

Jade thought about it for a second. Even though her time was rather limited with Quidditch training, her N.E.W.T. preparation and the Apparition classes, she would find time to squeeze Chloé in once a week... And if she didn't ... Well, she knew someone else who was rather adept at the subject. .. Maybe this was a chance to get Blaise and Chloé to spend some time together.

"Actually, Chloé, I think I could do this. But you don't need to pay me..." And before the blonde could protest, she quickly added "Wednesday afternoon?" The other girl nodded and smiled "Fine with me!"

"See you then!" Jade said and pulled her bag over her shoulder to follow Hermione down to dinner.

* * *

The next morning during her free period Jade sat inside the Common Room and stared out of the window. Before Christmas break she had always spent her free periods with Roger and the Ravenclaws, but now she mostly spent them alone or with Leanne. Today the Common Room was almost completely empty and as Jade watched the grounds of Hogwarts through the glass, her thoughts started getting lost. Her Potions class would begin in thirty minutes. She knew that the sixth-years had class right before her. That meant she might run into Draco if she got there a little early...She smiled to herself.

And so, twenty minutes later, Jade had just turned into the corridor of the Potions classroom down in the dungeons as she saw the door fly open. The students streamed out of the room, closely followed by Slughorn himself, who vanished down the corridor. Jade greeted her Gryffindor friends as they passed each other; Blaise was walking a short distance behind them. He approached her in the dimly-lit corridor and muttered "I wouldn't go in there just yet. _He's_ still in the classroom."

Jade nodded. "Thanks for the warning."

"See you after lunch?"

Smiling, Jade nodded again and Blaise turned to walk down the corridor. She knew she had to tell him about Draco, but she was afraid to do it. Telling Hermione was something different; the girl wouldn't judge her. But Blaise would probably be angry.. and disappointed. Jade felt sad, thinking about it. They would probably fight again and she didn't want to fight with him.

After the last sixth-year had left the Potions classroom and Draco still wasn't in sight, Jade approached the open door. As she peered through it, she saw Draco standing motionlessly in the middle of the room. His back was turned towards her and he seemed to be in thought. He jumped in surprise as he heard her and turned. As soon as he recognized her, an impish grin spread onto his face. He was planning something, wasn't he?

"Why are you still hanging around here?" she asked as she stepped into the room.

For a second Draco didn't answer. It seemed as if he was contemplating the situation. His eyes swept over her face, then quickly around the room. He nodded and then looked back at the girl again.

"You need to help me with something." He stated as he took a few steps towards her. Jade's eyebrows rose. What did he need her help with?

"I need to get something from Slughorn's private storage room. He'll return in a minute. I need you to distract him for me. I thought about using these." He pulled out a few of Fred and George's joke shop items from his pockets. Jade recognized the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and a few Decoy Detonators. "But I think you'll be a much better distraction. I just need a few minutes."

For a second Jade contemplated her options; of course, she wanted to help him, but he would have to do something for her as well. She smiled up at him as he was watching her expectantly. Trailing her fingers over the edge of the teacher's desk, she approached him slowly and cocked her head to one side.

"So, if I do this for you… what's in it for me?" She asked, her voice sounding smooth as an uncharacteristic smile played along her lips. This was a very Slytherin-is behaviour for her, but she kind of liked playing like that for once.

For a second Draco looked mildly surprised as if he hadn't expected her to answer this way, but then he smirked and something glistened inside his grey eyes. "I see my little Gryffindor Princess has learned how to speak to snakes."

"What can I say?" Jade spoke silently. "I learned from the best."

Draco let out a deep chuckle that made him look devilishly handsome; they looked in each other's eyes and Jade felt this strong chemistry between them again.

"So..." he drawled "Let's negotiate.. What do you demand?" he asked her as the smirk still didn't leave his face.

"I want to know what you are searching for in his storage room and why you need it. And I want to know where you keep disappearing to.."

Draco thought about it for a second; then he nodded. "I guess that's only fair... "

And then he got closer; his hand trailed up her neck, slowly taking hold of the back of her head. "Tonight?" he whispered against her lips and she nodded slowly as goosebumps erupted on her skin. She could feel his lips upon hers and her eyes fluttered close for the fraction of a moment, before they heard someone at the door.

As if he had disapparated on the spot, Draco moved so fast that he was standing a few feet away from Jade as Professor Slughorn entered.

"Mr Malfoy!" he sounded surprised. "Still here? Did you have any questions left about your test?"

"No, sir. I just.." whenever speaking to a person of authority, Draco got this distinct Malfoy-ish quality to his voice, Jade thought, as Slughorn quickly interrupted him.

"... enjoyed the company." He chortled good-humouredly. "Yes, yes. Miss Heywood is indeed one of the rising stars of the school." He made a quick little bow in Jade's direction. "It's always a pleasure to have her around. But I'm afraid, Mr Malfoy, it's time for your next class." He ended with a pointed glance at the blond boy.

"Of course, sir." Draco said and pulled the strap of his bag over his shoulder; then he left for the door. Jade knew that this was her call to jump into action. Slughorn's private store room was connected to the classroom through a door right behind the teacher's desk. So Draco couldn't really leave the room.

The professor was happily waving his wand through the air and making instructions appear on the blackboard as Draco reached the door and Jade opened her mouth to speak.

"Professor, I came a little earlier today, because Chloé Van Buren approached me.."

"Oh, yes, yes. About the private tutoring? I thought she would be in good hands with you, Miss Heywood." Slughorn looked positively delighted and Jade smiled back at him. Out of the corners of her eyes she saw how Draco opened the door, let it fall shut again and then take out his wand to do a spell on his shoes. As he turned to walk back into the room, his feet didn't make any sound anymore. This guy had nerves...

"So I wondered" Jade said quickly "if you could advise me a way to approach this. Where should I set the main focus? Which books should we use and what potions should I choose as study material?"

Slughorn beamed as Jade posed all those questions and manoeuvred his big belly around his desk.

"Sit down, my dear. Sit down. We should go through this quickly before your classmates arrive."

Jade smiled at the old man and sat down, facing the door to the store room so Slughorn would sit with his back to it. She saw Draco's cloak vanish behind the door as she bent down to pull some parchment and her quill from her bag to make notes as Slughorn started making enthusiastic suggestions about how she should structure her lessons with Chloé.

A few minutes later Jade was slowly getting nervous. Draco still hadn't left the storage room and even though Slughorn still was completely absorbed in their conversation, she was worried that her other classmates might arrive any moment. But finally Draco stepped out of the little room again and as he crossed the classroom noiselessly, the door to it opened. A few Slytherins stepped in and Draco swiftly pushed his way out and vanished in the throng of students before Slughorn had even turned around.

Jade exhaled a breath of relief and as she stood up to get out her potions kit and her scales, she felt something hard against her thigh. Reaching into the pocket of her robes, her fingers curled around something that felt like a large key... Then she realized that Draco must have dropped it in there. She hadn't even noticed..

* * *

After lunch Jade sat outside in one of the courtyards and waited; it was completely empty except for her, but it was their usual spot. Her body was trembling slightly and she didn't know whether it was from the cold or from her own nervousness. Finally a tall figure made its way over and sat down onto the bench right next to her.

"Are you alright?" Blaise asked her; he always knew instantly when something was bothering her.

"Blaise, I need to tell you something." She looked at him as his dark eyes found hers. Her shoulders dropped; she already felt sad when imagining his reaction in a second. He would be so angry.. and so she chickened out of it.

"I promised Chloé to coach her in Potions."

Blaise looked surprised for a second, but then he composed his face again. "That's alright. I don't mind.. Was that what you wanted to tell me?"

Jade felt as if his eyes pierced her own as she opened her mouth. She couldn't lie to him. "Blaise, please promise me you won't be angry."

And with those simple words, Blaise's eyes turned into slits. He knew. Quickly, Jade tried to explain "I just gave him a chance to hear him out. I.."

"Did you forget.." Blaise hissed silently "..the thing he wears on his arm?" Jade saw the tension in his body, his nostrils flaring. He really was angry.

"Blaise, please." She whimpered and reached out to take hold of his arm. He yanked it away from her.

"No, Jade! What do you think your uncle would say to this? After he tried so hard to protect you all these years! And you just throw yourself into the arms of a Death Eater! A Death Eater, Jade! What do you think your parents would say?"

Jade's lower lip quivered; she had known he'd drag her parents into this. It always was his last resort if he thought she was making a mistake. "That's not fair." She whispered.

But Blaise only shook his head. "I can't let you do this! It's too dangerous."

"It's not your decision to make, Blaise." Jade finally started standing up for herself.

"No, it's not. But it's me who has to pick up the pieces afterwards. Seriously.. If you do this, I won't be there if you fall again."

Jade knew he was trying to blackmail her and his words were harsh to her soul. But she bit her hurt down. "Then I won't fall." she said defiantly.

Blaise stood up now and ran his fingers through his short hair. "I can't believe this! How can somebody be this stupid?"

And Jade stood up now, too. He couldn't 'third-person' her right in front of her face.. '_Stupid_' had he called her? Anger flared up inside her.

"Of course _you_ wouldn't understand, Blaise!" she said venomously as her small figure faced his tall one. "You never were in love. How could you understand what Draco and I have if you're so cold, you could extinguish Fiendfyre? !"

"So you think he _loves_ you?" Blaise sneered at her. He had never _sneered_ at her before. "Of course! And that's why he broke up with you and slept with Parkinson, isn't it?"

"He didn't do it!"

"Yes, Miss Naive. That's what he'd tell you.."

And that was the point where Jade saw red. Before she was aware of her own movement, her wand was in the air, pointing at Blaise.

"You want to hex me now? Please, go on!" his hands beckoned her to do it as his eyes looked at her with something inside them, Jade had never seen before.

"Stop this, Blaise!" her voice sounded as if she was pleading.

"Why? Because you can't take the truth? Just look at you! I say one thing against him and you point your wand at my face!"

"I don't do this because of him!" she cried. "You hurt me, Blaise! _Stupid_? _Naive_? That's what you think of me?" she let her hand drop as the tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"I can't.. " she gasped for air. "I can't do this if I know you'll leave me."

Blaise face softened; for a moment he looked torn. Then he said "You'd better not do it then." and turned on the spot to leave the courtyard.

Jade stared after him. What? No! He couldn't just do this! He couldn't force her to make this choice!

"I won't choose you, Blaise!" she shouted after him in her anger.

"So be it then." He said and left the courtyard.

* * *

Instantly Jade broke together on the stone bench and buried her face in her hands. Angry tears spilled from her eyes. Had she really just lost Blaise? Or was he just trying to make her see his way in a radical fashion? Of course she knew why he didn't want her to be with Draco. But still he hadn't the right to rule over her life like this. Jade knew that Blaise would probably never see that. He could just be so bloody stubborn. He obviously thought he was doing this for her, so she wouldn't be hurt again.

What was she supposed to do now? She didn't want to fight with Blaise, but he left her no other choice. For half an hour Jade sat on that stone bench and thought about everything, snuffling at times. Finally she stood up and left the courtyard through the same door Blaise had left through. She had only taken a few steps down the corridor when she heard movements behind her.

She turned and saw her best friend leaning against the stone wall of the hallway. Even in the darkness of the corridor Jade could see that his face wore a pained expression. She was surprised; she had never expected him to stay here for the entire time. Usually he would persevere until she came back to him eventually. This meant that he really saw that he had gone too far this time.

"I'm sorry." His deep voice carried over to her and Jade took a few steps towards him. Then he held out his arms for her and only an instant later Jade was in his embrace.

"I'm sorry, kid." He repeated. His arms were around her shoulders as she hugged him back around the waist. Jade noticed that his breathing wasn't as calm as it usually was. He probably felt just as emotional as she did in that moment. The thought of losing each other simply scared them both immensely.

"I'm sorry, too." She mumbled after a long moment, trying to control her sobs a little. "You're not that cold. Maybe just cold enough to put out a candle."

She smiled up at him, but the corners of Blaise's mouth didn't lift. He still looked sad.

"He's dangerous, Jade. He's working for the Dark Lord. Potter is one thing.. But hanging around with a Death Eater? I know I can't make you stop this, but I don't trust him."

"You don't trust anyone, Blaise."

"True. It's hard for me. But I trust you, Jade."

"So trust me when I say that Draco would never do anything to me. Tonight he'll tell me the whole story. I'll know more then. I promise you I'm not going into this blinded by my feelings. I'm not as naive as you think. Not anymore."

Blaise nodded and slowly let go of her again. "I think I should talk to him" he said after a moment.

"_Talk_ in talk? Or in fight?" Jade asked, looking sceptical.

"Talk. If he isn't honest with you, I promise I'll scare him away. But if he really cares that much about you, I'll know. Tomorrow." He said solemnly.

And then he put an arm around her shoulder and the two of them left the corridor side by side.

* * *

_A/N: I'm sorry it took longer than usual this time. Life is incredibly busy at the moment.. Next chapter we'll have a little more Draco&Jade again.. It just would have gotten too long if I squeezed it into this one.._


	38. Chapter 38

After dinner Jade walked up to the Gryffindor Tower with her friends. In her mind she was already putting together an outfit for the night as she stepped inside her dormitory; she wanted to look prettier than usual. And so, after a hot bath and a small wrestling match with her own wardrobe, she was wandering through the corridors of the castle again as the curfew loomed closer.

Draco hadn't told her any concrete time, but Jade thought that he would probably not turn up before nine o'clock. And she was right about that. It wasn't until half past nine that Jade heard someone knock silently against the old wooden door of the study room. She stood up from her place on the couch, where she had been reading in one of her books, and walked over to open the door.

Without saying a word, Draco entered swiftly and closed the door behind him again. Jade noticed that he looked very worn out, but definitely a little more like his groomed self from last year again. He was still wearing his school uniform and his tie was hanging loosely around his neck, adding to the rather knackered impression. As he turned towards her, his grey eyes found hers and instead of saying anything, he raised his arm to brush back a piece of her hair.

"You weren't at dinner." She said, determined to talk to him before letting him kiss her again. Draco cupped her cheek in his hand for a small second before he let go and said curtly "Couldn't make it."  
Then he turned and walked over to the couch, letting his school bag drop on the floor a few feet next to it. He sat down, propped his feet up on the couch table and leaned back. As Jade followed him and sat down to his side, his eyes were closed. He did not look like he wanted to talk right now... but he had promised it.

"So did you find what you were looking for?" she asked him.

Without opening his eyes, Draco's hand slid into the inside pocket of his cloak and pulled out a little glass flask. Inside was a muddy-looking liquid, Jade recognized instantly.

"Polyjuice?"

He nodded.

"What do you need it for?"

Draco tilted his head to the side and opened his eyes. "Let's make a deal." He said.

"I thought we already had one."

"A better one.. You give me half an hour and after that I'll tell you the whole story."

Jade opened her mouth to protest, so Draco quickly said "I need the potion for Crabbe and Goyle. And when I disappear I'm in the Room of Requirement."

He stood up and took off his cloak, as well as his tie, and as he turned again, he smirked at Jade's slightly baffled expression. Her brain was working at top speed as she tried to decipher all the possible meanings of his words. One secret was definitely unveiled now: Draco couldn't be found on the Marauder's Map if he needed the Room of Requirement to be unplottable for him.

He sat down next to her again and held out his hand; a little timidly, Jade took it. He pulled her over to him and wrapped his other arm around her to pull her against his chest as he turned and stretched his legs out on the couch. His arms were around her and Jade felt unusually nervous as she lay beside him and rested her face against the fabric of his shirt. They suddenly were so close now and her heart was beating faster than she would have liked, betraying her. She wondered if this felt as exciting for Draco as it did for her, but the boy had already closed his eyes. He really had to be extremely tired. She let one of her hands travel up and laid it down upon his chest. Only a moment later Draco moved his own hand to lie on top of hers.

For exactly half an hour he kept her in his arms like this, his eyes closed and his breathing steady, until they heard a bell somewhere in the castle chime ten times. Then his eyes opened again, telling Jade that he hadn't really been sleeping, and instead of sitting up, he pulled her a little closer to his chest.

"I think you need to ask me a question. I don't quite know where to start." He said after a moment of silence.

Jade propped herself up a little, so she was able to look into his eyes and said "The last thing I know is that you needed to... _murder_.. someone. And I'm fairly certain that Katie Bell wasn't your true target."

Draco's face had twitched slightly at the mentioning of Katie. "Who is it, Draco?"

For a second his eyes closed again and he pulled up his hand to press two of his fingers against the bridge of his nose. "Dumbledore." He stated silently.

"That's ridiculous!" Jade couldn't help but say. No student was able to kill the headmaster himself. The mere idea was simply ludicrous! But then she remembered what Draco had said last summer, that You-Know-Who expected him to fail. Now she got scared. "What is he going to do to you if you...?"

"Fail?" asked Draco. He didn't say it out loud, but there was a small movement of his eyes and a short nod of his head and Jade knew what it meant.

"Why?" her voice sounded feeble. "Because your father didn't get the Prophecy?"

He nodded. "I suppose so. Initially he gave me until Christmas. I guess you remember that one night.. "

Draco stopped as Jade pushed herself up into a full sitting position. Hearing those things was much worse than only imagining them. She remembered the way Draco's face had looked after the holidays. He had been tortured for his lack of success. Suddenly a huge lump was forming in her throat. This was so much worse than anything she herself ever had to go through. She remembered how she had treated him that night in the dream, still being angry about Parkinson; when he had been punished by _him_. She felt guilty and a few tears rolled down her cheeks at the image of the boy being abused. Quickly Draco pushed himself up, too.

"It wasn't that bad, Jade. I.." His words only made it worse. Of course, it had been bad. His face looked as if someone had tried to smash it that week. Jade looked up at him. The thought of him in pain was unbearable to her. How was he able to stand all this? To go through this alone and not crack?

Slowly she wiped her tears away as Draco stroked her hair softly. Weirdly enough, he was smiling at her. And Jade wanted nothing more than to hug him, to squeeze him so tightly that he wouldn't be able to breathe anymore... and just not let go again. But she thought that would be a little childish.. She could do things like that with Blaise, but not with him.

And so she leaned forward and tried to take the grown-up approach to showing him her feelings. Slowly she kissed his lips and felt Draco's hand travel a little down and bury itself in her hair. She knew she hadn't said it yet, but she loved him.. very much so. And she knew that sometimes a kiss could say just as much as words could.

It was a loving and tender kiss and Jade ended it before it started getting more heated. This wasn't the right moment for that. And so she pulled away again, even though something inside her didn't want to.

And after a moment she asked "What are you trying to do now? How are you going to do this?"

The fact that she was currently talking about the death of Albus Dumbledore only occurred to Jade distantly. She needed to find a way to make Draco survive this. Should she herself go to the headmaster and ask for help? Or would that only worsen the whole situation? If You-Know-Who found out, Draco's mother would be in terrible danger... Was Dumbledore's death the only way for Draco? And hadn't Snape done the Unbreakable Vow? Had he vowed to kill Dumbledore if Draco failed to do it? Oh Merlin.. This was really, really bad. What should she do now?

Draco had leaned back against the armrest of the couch and as he began to speak, he stirred Jade up from her trail of thoughts. "Well, what can I say? I guess I'm a pretty lousy assassin. So I'm trying to.. fix a certain object that will help me do it."

"An object?"

"Jade, I think I shouldn't tell you all the details. You know I do trust you. But believe me, you don't want this one on your conscience. It suffices if I tell you that I try to fix that object in the Room of Requirement. Crabbe and Goyle act as lookouts, disguised with Polyjuice Potion. But I'm having trouble repairing it. It was pretty heavily damaged, almost destroyed. And no one ever taught us how to do something like this. I mean, I'm from a family of diplomats, not artisans. Nobody can really tell me what to do and the library isn't helping either. So I'm spending all of my time in that blasted room without making any progress.. for months now." His voice sounded more and more frustrated as he spoke.

"If you told me what it was," Jade said, feeling pretty desperate suddenly, "maybe I could help you. My uncle is an inventor and I'm not bad at stuff like this either."

"No, I don't want you involved in this." Draco said determinedly. "And I don't think you really want to be responsible for something like this either. I just don't want you to do this for me. It's my burden and I won't unload it onto you of all people."

Jade nodded; she respected him for this decision. It was the way any real man would decide. Draco's left arm was still resting across her thighs and as she shifted a little in her position, she saw him twitch involuntarily. Her eyes fell down upon his arm and slowly she took it into her hands. Without really thinking about it, she carefully rolled up his sleeve and Draco let her. There it sat on his creamy white skin, dark and ugly. At the edges of the skull, Draco's skin looked flaming red.

"Does it hurt?" She asked him silently as she laid her small hand into his larger one and looked at him.

"Bloody agony." He said, shrugging. "Wasn't that bad at first, but then.." he stopped mid-sentence and his eyes left hers.

"What happened?"

"I.. tried to cut it out. It was stupid in retrospect, but I was feeling slightly self-destructive at the time. Needless to say it didn't work."

Jade's eyes grew wider. He had cut out his own skin? "When did you do that?" she whispered.

"First week of school. But I accepted it now." He added. "I guess I'll always carry that skull on my skin. And I am what they call a _Death Eater_." He spat out that last two words as if they were repulsive to him.

"Just because people call you that, it doesn't make you one." Jade said wisely and Draco looked consoled at her words. He leaned forwards and kissed her forehead.

"I really missed you, you know." He whispered and then he leaned back again. "Let's stop talking about this. I'd love to get my mind off it for a moment." Jade nodded; she could understand that.

"So what's up with the Weasel King and the bookworm?" he asked now. "I always wondered about that."

Jade smiled, Hogwarts' gossip seemed so stupid and meaningless, but it would take his mind away from his problems. "Well, Ron got together with Lavender.." she said.

"Why did he do that?" Draco asked "Didn't he appreciate the.." He mimicked having giant front teeth, earning a slightly scathing look from Jade.

"No, he's just ... a boy."

Draco's eyebrows rose, but wisely he didn't choose to comment on this. So instead he asked "And what happened to Zabini's girl? I can't believe he really picked a Gryffindor, who's not even pureblood."

"Well, he didn't exactly pick her. I did. For the Christmas Party, you remember?"

"Vividly." He smirked.

"Blaise didn't bother to get a date. So I asked her and he couldn't deny that she was exceptionally pretty." Draco let out a little fake cough at those last words and Jade furrowed her brow.

"You don't think she's pretty?" she asked.

"Well, let's put it like that." He said diplomatically. "I prefer brunettes."

Jade laughed a little at that. Of course, Chloé and Jade were very different types of girls and she had indeed looked out for a blonde, knowing that Astoria, Blaise's only girlfriend, was blonde, as well. Thinking of Blaise, she said "I got into a major fight with him today. About you.. But we did make up afterwards."

"What a shame." Draco said, still smirking.

"Oh, you can wipe that smirk right off your face again, because he wants to talk to you now." She said, but Draco's smirk only grew haughtier.

"Talk to me? And why should I worry about that? You do realize that I only put up with him all those months, because I knew I deserved it.. the hexes in the hallways, the time he.." (he made a quick hand gesture)".. my face. But please.. if I ever took out my wand against him.. I know curses that would sent him running to his mummy. He's just a big talker. No fighter. He never had to take the walk."

"There won't be any fighting." Jade said, feeling slightly alarmed at Draco's words. "He just wants to make sure that you take things seriously with me this time."

Now Draco looked suspicious. "Then why worry about it? What are you afraid of?"

"I'm just .. scared that he'll say things that make you leave me again." She said sadly. "Blaise is good at manipulating people. And I.."

But Draco interrupted her. "I know you don't trust me yet, Jade. But believe me, there's no need for you to worry. I will never leave you again. I promise. There's nothing that anyone could ever say or do to make me let go of you."

Well, now Jade simply had to kiss him. Slowly she swung one leg over him and turned to sit on his lap. Her hands took hold of his shoulders and he wrapped his arms around her waist as she leaned closer. They started with cute, small kisses that left Jade wanting more. And so she opened her mouth a little and let Draco really kiss her. She almost had forgotten what an amazing kisser he was...

Half an hour later, Jade put the brakes on it. She had promised herself to take things slowly, but the way she and Draco had been going at it couldn't exactly be considered that. And so she put a stop to it and pushed against his chest. At some point their positions had shifted and she was lying on her back on the couch while Draco was above her. He stopped kissing her as he felt her hands pressing against him and as his grey eyes swept over the girl underneath him, he seemed to be contemplating for a second whether to ignore her actions and continue kissing her.

But then he shook his hair out of his eyes and moved to lie next to her again, snaking an arm around the back of her neck to hold her to him. Both of them needed a moment to steady their breathing and Jade felt the butterflies in her stomach running wild again.

It was a bit of a challenge, but for the rest of the night they managed to just talk to each other. And Jade could tell that Draco actually enjoyed that almost as much as the kissing. After all he hadn't really talked to anyone all those last months.

At some time during the night Draco summoned a blanket for the two of them and as the fire in the fireplace burned down, Jade slowly fell asleep.

* * *

The sky outside still was a deep dark blue as Jade awoke again. It was very dark inside the room, but in the light of the moon and the stars Jade saw that Draco was still asleep. His arms were both around her and his breathing steady and calm. His face looked a lot more relaxed than it did while he was awake.

For a moment she just watched him; he really was a very handsome young man. Somehow you could just tell that he came from a noble family; his face had a certain delicacy to it. And as she watched him, she realized that he was more similar to Harry than he himself would have liked to admit. Both of them were marked men in a way, branded, and their paths were determined by the same cruel monster. People called Harry a hero... and they called Malfoy the bad guy. But he had those qualities as well.. perseverance and bravery. He protected the ones he loved and he had certainly gone through some pain on his way. Jade knew that she was possibly the only person that would ever see this side of him, but she was incredibly happy that she was able to.

She caught herself staring and had to smile, grateful that he couldn't see her. She nuzzled her face against his chest and even though he was asleep, she felt his arms around her tighten again and it made her heart do a little flip. She knew she had to do something to help him. Maybe she should just ask him to go with her after she graduated. He would be safe at their house. Jade knew that Draco wanted to do this on his own and maybe he even had the hope to restore the name of his family among the rows of Death Eaters. But if he failed, Jade wouldn't let him return to his home.. and if she had to hex him on order to save him. She would.

* * *

Only an hour later Jade wandered down the corridors of the school, headed for an early breakfast. Draco was already sitting at the Slytherin table as she entered the Great Hall; he had left first so she could take the key with her again. Before they had said Goodbye to each other, he had asked her if they could meet again on Friday and she had happily agreed. Her good mood only sank slightly as she realized that Draco wasn't the only Slytherin at the table, who had obviously not gotten much sleep this night.

Blaise sat at the other end of the table, his eyes sweeping across the hall, and he looked as if someone had just vomited into his bowl of cereal. Clearly he knew that Draco and Jade had spent the night together and he did not seem to approve at all.

As Draco stood up to leave, Blaise mimicked his actions and with a nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach, Jade watched how the dark boy followed Draco out of the Hall. She knew that if they fought this time, Blaise would be the one ending up in the Hospital Wing.

By lunchtime Blaise's mood had apparently only dropped further. Jade was waiting for him in the Entrance Hall and as he rushed out of the dungeons, she stepped forward to ask timidly how it went. To her surprise Blaise simply said "Let's not talk about it anymore." And lead the way into the Great Hall.

Smiling, Jade followed him. So Draco had proven himself to Blaise. She had no idea how, but the fact that he had made her trust him a little more. She wondered whether she shouldn't have doubted him in the first place, but doubt was probably normal after everything that had happened. And to regain her full trust again, Draco simply had to work a little harder this time.

The rest of the day was spent inside the library with Leanne. The two girls had to do the last finishing touches on a presentation they were supposed to give in Transfiguration the next day. Jade was writing down their final structure with all the keywords on a scroll of parchment as Leanne kept double-checking a few facts. Jade realized that her friend had no idea that she hadn't slept in her own dormitory that night. Thank Leanne's deep sleep for that...

* * *

The next day at breakfast Jade sat down between Hermione and Ginny, who still was treating her icily. She watched how the redhead slid a few inches further down the bench and away from her as Hermione turned towards her.

"You're already nervous about your presentation today?" she asked as she loaded up her plate.

"A little." Jade admitted. "It just is very important for our N.E.W.T.s. And McGonagall always has such high expectations."

Right in that moment Leanne arrived in the Great Hall and approached Jade, who already excused herself and stood up from the table to meet her. It only took a few minutes and Jade sat down at the table again; Leanne just had had a few last minute questions.

Jade noticed that Ginny turned her back on her the moment she arrived. The girl's behaviour seemed a little extreme and Jade realized that she would have to talk to her eventually.

A few hours later she stood in front of her Transfiguration class and as Leanne wrote the topic of their presentation down on the blackboard, Jade pulled out the scroll with all of their notes from her bag and stared down at it in shock. It was empty!

Quickly she pulled out her wand and did a few spells on it, but nothing happened. She swore inwardly as her palms were beginning the get sweaty. How could this be possible? This was the right scroll, wasn't it? Or had she packed the wrong one this morning? No.. she was sure she had checked before she had left the Common Room. This was too important for her.

"Is everything in order, Miss Heywood?" Professor McGonagall asked her. Jade felt as if she had just fallen into a nightmare. Failing in class was definitely one for her.. especially because Leanne depended on her as well.

"I'm sorry, Professor.. Leanne.. Our notes."

Professor McGonagall approached with quick strides and took the scroll out of Jade's hands. She waved her wand over the parchment, looked surprised for a moment, then tried again. This time Jade's handwriting reappeared.

"You need more than this little jinx, Miss Heywood, to get out of this." She said sternly as she handed back the scroll. "Now, please begin!"

As Jade packed her things together at the end of class she was smiling to herself. After the rocky start Leanne and her presentation had been flawless and the Professor had been very pleased with them. But Jade still wondered about how her writing could have disappeared like that. It had been there this morning as she had packed her bag. And nobody could have gotten their hands on it when she always carried it with her.. Only once she had left it unattended. At breakfast when she had spoken to Leanne. But Hermione and Ginny had.. Ginny!

The girl was angry with her and she was the only one (except Hermione) that could have done it. But would she really do something like that to her?

Jade told Hermione about her suspicions that night in the Common Room and her friend looked a little concerned.

"I think you could be right." She said. "After all Ginny grew up with Fred and George. Pranks and jokes almost run in her veins. But this is really taking it a little too far. This was about your and Leanne's N.E.W.T.s after all! I think you need to talk to her."

Jade nodded in consent, but right now she was supposed to wait for Chloé for their first tutoring lesson together. After the girl arrived, Jade spent an hour explaining the basics of potion brewing to her and she listened intently and understood fast.

Afterwards they sat together for a while, talking about this and that. Blaise didn't come up in their conversation and neither did Chloé's new boyfriend. But even though the blonde kept smiling a lot and was rather bubbly, Jade was enough of a Legilimens to see that there was something on the girl's mind. What it was, she could not say.

* * *

The next day at school passed rather quickly. Classes were getting more difficult as the exams approached and a cold breeze was still flowing through the castle as February was nearing its end.

That night it was time for Quidditch training and Harry let them practice longer and harder than usual. Jade wanted to give her best, but today she just couldn't. As she played with the other Chasers she almost never got the Quaffle. Ginny didn't pass it to her once and every time Dean had it, the other girl called her boyfriend's name to catch his attention. The only times Jade ever had the Quaffle, Ginny suddenly lacked behind and only Dean was there to her side. Ginny's behaviour really started to annoy her and she felt even more resentful as Harry called her back to stay after the training had ended.

He was watching the Beaters return the Bludgers into the large wooden chest as Jade soared down to his side.

"What was that today, Jade? The match is in fairly more than two weeks and I've never seen you play worse! Whatever you and Ginny are fighting about, you need to stop it!" he chastised her.

"Harry, you don't need to tell me this!" she said angrily. "I'm not the problem here! I.." In that moment something hard hit the back of her head. Ginny had let the Quaffle drop right above her and was soaring over them as Jade felt a lump form on top of her head.

"Oi! Ginny!" Harry shouted up at her.

"Sorry, Captain!" she yelled innocently down at him. "I thought you guys saw me!"

Incredulously Jade stared after the girl as she shot off to the Changing Rooms.

"You're alright?" Harry asked and Jade nodded.

"I'll check with Ginny right now." She said grimly and Harry clapped her on the back as she swung her leg over her broom again and set after the redhead.

As she arrived in the Changing Room Ginny had apparently already gotten dressed at top speed. But Jade wouldn't let her get away this time.

"Alright, that's enough!" she said decidedly as she approached the other girl.

"Excuse me? I have no idea what you're talking about." Ginny shot a false smile up at her as she bent down to tie her shoelaces.

"Oh, please Ginny! First you sabotage my school work and now you start hurting me physically?"

"I told you I thought you saw me aiming at you!" the redhead said in an exasperated voice; then she turned and walked towards the door.

Before she opened it, Jade called after her. "What's the point in denying when we both know you are lying? What's your problem, Ginny?"

The other girl turned around again, annoyance clear in her face. "What my problem is? Well, maybe the slutty girl in my face is my problem!"

Jade had to prevent her mouth from falling open. Had Ginny just called her a slut? Even though she felt anger rise up inside her, she tried to take the high road for now. "You know there never was anything between me and Harry." she said in a calm voice.

"Really? So what were you doing in his bed then? You do that with your other friends as well? The whole castle talks about you and Zabini.. I just never believed it was true. And now you try the same with Harry! He doesn't deserve that, Jade!"

Jade's eyebrows shot up high; she could sense that Ginny was being dishonest in her apparent concern for Harry. The redhead only tried to mask her own jealousy.

"Really, Ginny? You know exactly that I never even liked Harry in that way! But even if I did, what's it to you? You have a boyfriend, haven't you? You've got no right to determine if Harry can see other girls. And I'm not speaking for myself here!"

"Stop acting so noble, Jade! You know why I don't want to see the two of you together! I told you about it! My feelings never changed! So what kind of friend are you, Jade, that you go behind my back like this? Sometimes I really wish the Sorting Hat would just have put you into Slytherin. That's where you belong!"

Jade's eyes narrowed slightly, making them appear more cat-like than usual. She felt as if Ginny had just pushed their friendship off the cliff. Jade had never done anything to deserve this and this injustice made her angry. "So if you got feelings for Harry, then what are you doing with Dean? !" she said in a cold voice. Ginny looked at her as if she had slapped her. And feeling slightly aggressive, Jade added. "So who's the real slut here?"

Ginny moved fast, but not fast enough. The moment she cried out her incantation Jade had already gotten out her own wand. And as giant Bogeys started flying at Jade to attack her, she swirled it through the air and turned them into little puffs of green smoke.

"Please, Ginny.. you couldn't hex me if your life depended on it!" she said disparagingly. She knew she was only provoking Ginny further, but she really was angry at the girl.

"_Furnunculus_!" the redhead cried out, but Jade deflected it easily. You couldn't really surprise someone in a battle if you cried your spells out that loudly anyway. Ginny was just wasting their time. Another set of hexes came flying at her as Ginny was getting more in rage with each one. It took a lot for Jade to contemplate hexing someone she considered a friend, but Ginny's behaviour was insulting her on so many levels.

For a second she thought about which Charm to perform. She didn't want to use any simple standard Defensive spell; she wanted to show Ginny that she was far more accomplished than that. Then she closed her eyes, concentrating, and moved her wand through the air, thinking of the incantation in her head. She felt the air moving around her ankles as a miniature tornado built up around Ginny's body. Jade liked this spell in particular. It made the opponent unable to move or see clearly, but didn't really hurt them. The air around Ginny was spinning fast and turning a smoky violet colour as muffled screams of anger reached Jade's ears. Smirking, she added a small Frost Hex to it; after all Ginny really needed to cool down a little.

Over the noise of the small storm, she had created, Jade quickly heard other noises.. steps. Immediately she stopped her Whirlwind Charm and the air around Ginny turned to its ordinary state again as the door behind her flew open. Harry and Dean had come back.

"What is going on here? We heard Ginny's voice and saw sparks flying through the window!" Harry said, looking concerned.

As Ginny was still spitting out hair that had got caught in her mouth, Jade took the opportunity to answer first. "Ginny tried to hex me."

"What?" Dean sounded slightly shocked and Harry asked "Why?"

Jade looked at Ginny as she approached the boys. "I think you'd better tell them on your own. Start with Dean." She said to her quietly before turning towards the boys. "Harry, would you mind walking me up to the castle?"

Harry nodded and laid his hand upon Jade's shoulder as he guided her through the door; Jade could practically feel Ginny's eyes burning a hole into the back of her skull before the door swung close behind them again. She hated fighting, but the girl really had asked for it, hadn't she? And Jade didn't want to back down. She hadn't done anything wrong; she had even tried to approach Ginny after the girl had thrown a Quaffle at her head... No, she was sure she wasn't the one at fault here. It would be Ginny, who had to make the next move.

* * *

_A/N: Thank you again for all your reviews :) And I'd also like to thank all the people that added my story to their favourite list :) It really makes me happy! _

_I hope you liked this chapter.. I got a little complaint about my bad grammar/spelling and I promise you, I do my best.. But I'm German and only learned English in school, so I hope you forgive me ;) I promise you though that as soon as this story is finished, I'll print it out and go over it really thoroughly.. But right now I think you'd appreciate further updates more than if I went over the first chapters for the 101st time to correct them yet again.._


	39. Chapter 39

Jade was still seething as she let her body drop down into the old leather couch next to Harry. The Common Room was always buzzing with students at this time of evening and next to them Ron was sharing a large armchair with Lavender, who was giggling and whispering to him. But the tall redhead looked rather uninterested and shifted his girlfriend easily on his lap so he was able to talk to Harry.

"I just heard one of the Hufflepuff Beaters had a small accident in Herbology, an unfortunate encounter with Bubotuber Pus. Takes three weeks to heal fully, so he can't play. I reckon they'll let Finch-Fletchley fill in for him. But his aim is pathetic." Ron grinned in a smug way, then he added "Jade, I'm so looking forward to you showing Smith the ropes in the game! He deserves a good rubdown!"

Jade only nodded absentmindedly at Ron's words and as the two boys engaged in yet another Quidditch conversation, her own thoughts kept getting gloomier. The fight with Ginny had left a very bitter aftertaste and she couldn't battle down those nasty feelings that kept creeping up inside her now.

Since she had arrived at this school she had tried so hard be nice and respectful to others, to make friends and to please them. She had been afraid that they would simply put her down as the arrogant new girl and so she had always tried to wear a smile on her face instead of her natural rather cold expression.

Of course, they still had started gossiping about her; some rumours were simply ridiculous, others plain nasty. But she had never really cared about that. She didn't care if Parvati thought she was secretly hooking-up with Blaise or if Marietta had told everyone that she needed an hour every morning to charm her body into place. She didn't care about those people.

But she had really tried to care about Ginny, even though she had never really bonded with the girl in the first place. But she had tried. She had even summoned those stupid Valentine's presents for her.. And what for? Why bother being nice if this was all she got from it? ! People like that didn't even deserve it! She realized in that moment that there were only very few people within the castle, she _really_ cared about. Hermione and Harry..Ron occasionally (if he wasn't with Lavender).. and of course the two Slytherin boys. But all the others weren't important to her, she didn't care about them.

And even for the people, she did care about, she had done things, she did not want to do anymore. This constant need to justify every little move she made and to find excuses, for why she was with the boy she loved, pulled her down. She didn't want to do this anymore!

She just wanted to do whatever she felt like doing and not always apologize for it. She would meet Draco and _not_ defend herself in front of Blaise, Ron or Ginny; she would sit on as many boys' beds as she liked and _not_ give two Knuts about whether she stepped on someone's toes. She was just sick of everyone's complaints about her life and the others would just have to deal with it. She definitely wouldn't anymore. No more justifications and guilty thoughts. This was it.

Unaware of it herself, Jade was in a very peculiar mood that night. Her hurt had turned her into a vengeance-seeking minx and as flaming red hair whipped inside in the Common Room, she knew she had just licked blood earlier. She wanted to push Ginny further, to make her pay for abusing their friendship like this. She wanted to find a way to make her hurt more. And with scheming thoughts on her mind, Jade's head slowly sank lower against the backrest of the couch and, without intending to, she fell asleep.

* * *

As she awoke again the circular room was almost completely empty and through the large windows around her she could see that the sky had turned a midnight blue. Only Harry was still sitting next to her, reading in the Prince's book in the dim light of the chandeliers and the dying fire of the fireplace.

"_Sectumsempra_" Harry mumbled to himself "_-for enemies._"

" 'Scuse me?" Jade whispered sleepily as she pushed herself up from the couch.

"Oh, you're awake." Harry turned to look at her; then he grinned at the drowsy expression on her face. "More or less at least. I was about to wake you, but you looked so peaceful. Wouldn't have left you here alone, though."

_Peaceful_? That wasn't exactly what she had felt like before she had fallen asleep... She leaned forward and rubbed her eyes; then she grabbed her water bottle from her bag and drank from it. Instantly she felt refreshed again, but she was still angry. Somehow she could sense that they weren't alone; she felt that somebody was watching her. And as she turned and looked closely around the room, she saw that Ginny was still sitting at a table over by the windows, throwing wary glances over at the two of them.

Quickly, Jade's thoughts returned to what she had been planning before she had fallen asleep. _Push her further.._

Then her gaze fell back on Harry, whose green eyes were glimmering behind his round glasses as he flipped over a page of the book. Jade really did care about him and she did not want to ruin anything for him. Inconspicuously, she pulled out her wand; not even Harry noticed.

"_Muffliato_!" she thought while waving it into Ginny's direction. Then she pushed it back into her pocket and said "Harry?"

"Hmm.." came back an inarticulate reply.

"Do you care about her?" she asked softly.

Instantly the boy looked alarmed. This reaction already told Jade plenty. "About whom?"

"Ginny." She stated matter-of-factly as if it had been clear from the beginning of their conversation.

Harry stammered "Why should I ..? Why do you...?" Jade smiled; Harry was simply the worst liar when it came to things like these. His cheeks had a slightly pink tinge to them and he couldn't look into her eyes if his life depended on it.

"So you do." She said with a slight grin on her face. Harry simply said nothing anymore and merely stared moodily into the fire. If he really was in love with this girl, Jade couldn't ruin the relationship between them, which had been her initial plan before she had fallen asleep... but she could still tease Ginny _and_ play into Harry's hands at the same time..

"So then trust me on this." She whispered and in one fluent motion she sat up on her knees and swung one of her legs over Harry, straddling him. She felt his body stiffen in surprise underneath her.

"Jade, what are you..?" he asked weakly as Jade got closer, snaking one of her hands around his neck and leaning in until her mouth was almost touching his ear. Over his shoulder Jade could see Ginny staring at them in disbelief and Jade shot her a wicked smile as she whispered into Harry's ear.

"She looks at us as if she wanted to murder me on the spot. She's quite competitive when it comes to you. Her jealousy will make her break up with Dean eventually."

Jade felt how Harry raised his arms as if he wanted to lay them around her waist. "Don't touch me." She whispered quickly, still looking into Ginny's eyes. "You don't want me. Reject me. Take me by the shoulders and push me away softly."

He did exactly what she had told him and as Jade sat back on his knees and saw his flustered face, she had to giggle. He really was incredibly inexperienced with girls; even more inexperienced than Ron! She was probably the first girl that had ever sat down upon his lap. Sweet little Harry.. He reminded her of how she had been over one year ago. She would never have dared to sit on a friend's lap back then. And maybe she still wouldn't dare to do that so freely, if she really liked the boy.. But things were a lot easier, when they didn't 'count'.

Slowly she slid backwards and off his legs to stand up. She pulled down her skirt that had rode up a little higher and said silently "Tell me whether it worked."

She turned and started to walk away as Harry stopped her. "Wait a moment!" Jade looked over her shoulder and back at him; Harry was wearing a rather uncharacteristic smile on his face as he asked "Can I please tell Malfoy that I had his girl on my lap, whispering things into my ear? It would make my day!"

"He'd kill you." She laughed.

"His face might be worth it." Harry grinned, but Jade only smiled and shook her head. "Night, Harry."

"Night, Jade."

Swiftly, she walked across the room into the direction of the stairs, leading to her dormitory. Enjoying her new role as the villain, she shot Ginny a superior smile as she passed her and took up the steps to her bedroom. Ginny stared after her as if she was still in shock, but before Jade closed the door behind her, she saw how the ginger girl stood up and made her way over to the fireplace.

Merlin, girls were so easy to manipulate...

* * *

As Jade stepped back into the Common Room the next morning, Harry was already waiting for Hermione and her to arrive. He looked remarkably tired. Jade grinned as she approached him and cocked one of her arched eyebrows. As she got close enough, he mumbled out of the corner of his mouth. "It worked."

She laughed; she knew it would. "Did you ...?"

"Noo.. we just talked.. the entire night." Harry grinned; he looked happier than Jade had seen him in a long time. And even though it was Ginny, who had brought him this happiness, Jade felt above it now. Right in that moment Hermione joined them and the three of them quickly climbed through the portrait hole one after the other.

Behind the bushy-haired girl's back Harry whispered "Do you think we...?"

Jade shook her head decidedly, knowing what Harry was asking. "No, we shouldn't. It could push her away. It was just the right amount. You need to wait now. Give her a few weeks. Then she'll be single again... But she has to deal with Dean first." she said silently.

Harry nodded as Hermione turned around and eyed them suspiciously. "What are you two whispering about?"

"Quidditch." Harry answered promptly, giving Jade a conspiratorial look."Very secret stuff."

Hermione snorted and shook her head disbelievingly as she turned around again.

Down in the Great Hall Jade's eyes were drawn to the Slytherin table. Friday had finally arrived and tonight she would be seeing Draco again. She caught sight of him sitting at his table; his clever grey eyes were watching the students streaming into the Hall for breakfast as he felt her gaze upon him. Just for a second he looked into her eyes and Jade saw the faint trace of a smirk on his lips. Excitement welled up inside her quickly and she felt kind of fevered. Just by looking at him, she felt something inside her whimpering and whining to get closer. It had been getting worse as the week wore on and now she couldn't resist shooting quick glances at him as she stirred the spoon in her cup. He looked so good lately...

She knew she had promised not to rush into this.. but that was _before_. Last night she had made a new promise to herself: she would go for what she wanted and do it without thinking about it. No excuses and no regrets. And she knew she wanted him. Not just cuddling or kissing... Really feel him again, have him all around her.. inside her.. She tore at the neckline of her blouse; it was suddenly much too hot in the Great Hall. She allowed herself one last glance and saw that he was watching her. Something whimpered inside her again, more loudly this time, and Jade stood up without having eaten anything. She needed to get out of here before she jumped his bones right on the breakfast table.

* * *

For the rest of the day Jade felt extremely tense. She barely made it through her classes without having images flying through her head that had absolutely nothing to do with Wandlore or Conjuration Spells. As she finally escaped from Snape's dreary Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, she rushed through the crowded corridor, but stopped as she caught sight of blonde hair. Draco was leaning against the wall of the hallway, looking bored as the other students passed him. Faking clumsiness, Jade let one of her folders drop and sighed dramatically as she kneeled down to pick up all the parchments that were strewn over the floor. She took her time as the stream of students ebbed away and as she had placed her folder neatly into her bag again, a pair of expensive leather shoes had appeared right in front of her. Her gaze travelled up his body and as she stood upright again, she saw that his face looked extremely pissed off.

"I just got detention for the entire weekend." He said darkly. Jade simply couldn't believe her bad luck.

"Why?"

"Fell asleep in Transfiguration. I guess it was the final straw for the old hag. I'm sorry I can't make it tonight. Believe me I'd much rather spend my time with you." He said, sounding sincere in his annoyance.

Inside Jade something started whining again. He couldn't take this away from her like this when she had been looking forward to it the whole time. She almost felt insulted at his audacity to fall asleep in class and get detention.. for the whole weekend!

Quickly Jade looked around them, the corridor was still empty. And so she got closer to him, pushing her hands up against his chest and grabbing him by his cloak. As she looked up at him, she could see that he was feeling exactly as frustrated as she did.

"I don't want to wait!" she breathed.

At her words the Malfoy-smirk, in all his glory and pride, appeared on Draco's face. He wrapped an arm around her waist and, without saying a word, he pulled her over to the nearest door within reach. It opened upon a tap of his wand and revealed one of Filch's small store rooms, where he kept his cleaning potions and other utensils on top of high shelves that could only be reached with an incredibly high ladder. Draco's eyebrows shot up suggestively and without hesitating he pulled her inside the room with him and locked the door behind them.

The moment he turned towards her, he grabbed her by the waist and Jade threw her arms around his neck to pull him down to her. Their feelings ran high as they kissed each other passionately and deeply. There was no polite reservation or shyness anymore and Jade's nails dug into his neck as her hands travelled into the collar of his shirt. He grabbed her hair and pushed her backwards and her cloak fell to the floor as Jade felt the edge of a table push against the back of her thighs. Only for a second Draco's lips left hers and in one swift motion he wiped off all of Filch's possessions from the table. He sat Jade on top of it with ease and she wrapped her legs around him as he leaned over and started attacking her lips again.

Their breathing was going fast and Jade could feel an incredible heat building up inside her as Draco's hands quickly found the way under her skirt and he squeezed her thighs roughly. His stubble scratched at her soft skin as they continued kissing each other feverishly, but she didn't mind; in fact she liked it. And she threw her head back as Draco's mouth left her lips again and he slowly kissed his way down her neck as his left hand expertly unbuttoned her blouse. He sucked on her skin, making her squirm against him, and as his mouth reached the curve of her breast, she couldn't hold in a silent whimper. She needed more of this.

He pushed the blouse off her shoulders and moved up to kiss the freshly exposed skin; Jade let her arms slip through the piece of clothing and discarded it on the floor. Then she took hold of his tie and started loosening it with slightly shaky hands. She felt Draco smile against her skin at her excitement and he moved up to her lips again. "Impatient, huh?" he whispered.

All the response he got from her was a teasing bite on his lower lip, making him let out a deep growl. He caught her wrists in his hands and pushed her down onto the table, leaning over her. They kissed each other with an intensity and fierceness they never had before. Usually they always had been treating each other tenderly, but now Jade was clawing at him and biting him as he handled her roughly. She thought she was about to go mad with this need, she had for him, as his hands moved down and pushed up her skirt. She felt his heat against her and as the fingers of his right hand moved into the waistband of her tights, her own finally found the buckle of his belt. The anticipation reached its peak and she felt his left hand moving outside of her tights, making her purr in pleasure.

Finally she had undone his belt and as her fingers found the button of his slacks, she froze. Someone tried to open the door; the handle moved.

* * *

"I know you're in there. You lousy little thieves!" the voice of the caretaker croaked through the wood. Jade felt like crying as Draco let out an impressive stream of curse words. They heard the rustling of keys outside the door and both of them knew that there was no time anymore. Jade took out her wand and gave it a flick; all of their clothing corrected itself on its own and she slid down off the table.

"I'll handle this." Draco said and reached inside his pocket. He moved so fast Jade barely saw what he was doing. He had made a slashing movement with his wand and the door banged open, but before Filch could see them, Draco had thrown something powdery into the air and total darkness engulfed them. Jade couldn't see a thing, but felt Draco taking her hand. She heard Filch stumbling through the darkness and cursing at them as Draco led her unerringly through the blackness. Jade supposed he had used his Instant Darkness Powder, but she had no idea how he was able to see. He must have found a way to manipulate Fred and George's invention.

Finally Jade could see clearly again; they had reached the end of the corridor and Draco looked back.

"I think that bloody cat saw us. We should return to our Common Rooms."

They were still holding hands and as Jade's gaze travelled down his chest, she saw that his other hand was clutching at something inside his pocket. He pulled her close and kissed her one last time.

"Quick now, Jade. Filch is coming this way. I'll go back and confuse him." He let go of her and took a few steps backwards, adding with a smirk "And don't worry. I'll make the waiting worth it to you."

Then he turned on the spot and walked back into the darkness. Jade heard a dull thud and Mrs Norris hissed in anger. Filch's loud cursing followed her until she had reached a shortcut that was hidden behind one of those doors that only opened when asked politely.

"Would you please open up for me?" she said in a silent, but friendly voice.

"No, I don't think I will!" The door answered snottily. "I had a very stressful day, so please go and find another door you can push around!"

Touchy furniture really was the last thing Jade needed right now and so she rolled her eyes and turned to find another quick way to escape Filch. To her surprise a portrait further down the hallway swung open slightly. She got closer to it and recognized that it was a portrait of Agrippa. He smiled through his large beard as Jade got closer.

"She really has a nasty temper." He chuckled. "Usually I'd only open if you told me the password, but I think for such a lovely young lady I can make an exception. And you seem to be in trouble."

He swung forwards a little further and Jade peered into the narrow tunnel that opened up behind the portrait. "Leads directly up to the Astronomy Tower." The old man explained to her.

Well, that wasn't exactly where she was headed, but it would get a lot of space between Filch and her. "Thank you, sir." She smiled at the portrait, before she slipped through the gap and the picture swung close behind her, saying "Oh, my pleasure. Really."

At the end of the steep tunnel Jade pushed through what looked like a trap door and found herself climbing out of a large wooden chest. Now that Filch was no longer behind her, she let out a deep breath. As she walked to her Tower, she waited for the moment when regret and shame about what she had just done would hit her fully in the stomach again. But they didn't. And she felt slightly proud as she realized that they wouldn't. She really liked taking what she wanted for a change.

* * *

For the rest of the weekend Jade tried to stay as busy as possible and distract her mind from what she was longing for so badly.

Somehow her fight with Ginny had become one of the Hogwarts' gossiper's favourite topics overnight and each time she encountered the redhead in one of the hallways of the castle, people were craning their necks to see if they were about to fight again. And while the two of them satisfied themselves with dirty looks inside the school, they drove Harry crazy as soon as they were outside on the Quidditch Pitch. They played so fiercely that Ginny had to visit the Hospital Wing after Jade had forced her to crash full frontal against one of the goal hoops. Quidditch was a rough game and Jade could play dirty if she wanted to. And as long as Ginny didn't back down or apologize this game was on.

On Sunday night Jade worked overtime in the library with Blaise. They didn't talk much at all and Jade sensed that even though they weren't fighting, something made her feel so distant from him. The whole topic of Draco strained their relationship whether they liked it or not. It was hard for Jade to not be able to talk to her best friend about him and it was still hard for Blaise to really accept the fact that she was meeting the Death Eater who dumped her again. He hadn't said anything about it, but sometimes silence spoke louder than words and Jade knew him too well. It was a tough situation for both of them and Jade could only hope that it would get better in time.

At eight o'clock sharp Madam Pince ushered the two of them out of the library. They were the last students to leave and as they followed the librarian back to her front desk, a surprise met their eyes.

"Mr Malfoy, you can start with your detention now. Professor McGonagall explicitly told me that you are to leave your wand with me."

Draco looked as if he had never felt so debased in his life before. His face looked resentful and his nose wrinkled in disgust as he lay his wand down upon the table and eyed what looked like a small bucket and a sharp palette-knife.

"I only hope for you" croaked Madam Pince as she locked his wand safely away in one of her drawers "that extra-sticky gum as finally gone out of fashion." And then her scrawny figure disappeared in between bookshelves again.

As Blaise and Jade got closer, Draco was still staring after Madam Pince as if he wanted to scratch her eyes out with the palette-knife. His gaze turned onto Jade and he looked a little uncomfortable, as if he didn't like that she saw him in such a low position. He was a Malfoy after all, he clearly didn't picture himself scratching off chewing gum from under library tables.

But his expression quickly turned spiteful again as Blaise let out a mirthless laugh. "Finally found your place in the social standing, did you Malfoy?"

For a second Jade felt the need to strangle Blaise. Why did he have to provoke Draco like this? But once again the blonde boy surprised her with his reaction. He was just as cunning as he could be aggressive and so he chose the way, he knew would aggravate Blaise the most. The smirk was back in place as he leaned backwards against the desk and grabbed Jade by her hand to pull her up against him. Tenderly he took her face in his hands and kissed her intimately. Jade knew he was really pissing off Blaise royally now, but she didn't mind in the slightest at the moment and her hands found their way up into his hair as she kissed him back.

Their kiss only lasted for a short moment; then his hands travelled down to her waist and he whispered into her ear, just loudly enough for Blaise to hear. "I miss you, love. I can't stop thinking about the stuff we did in the broom closet."

Jade had to smirk a little; she enjoyed watching Draco being this sleeky and she didn't even know why. He was purposefully pushing Blaise to his limits and Jade wasn't surprised as she heard her friend cursing behind her.

"Branleur!" Blaise hissed in a low voice with his perfect French accent. Jade knew he liked to do that at times; insult people in French so he could say things to them he usually wouldn't dare to say in English.

Draco let out a deep chuckle and Jade felt his body vibrate against her. "Baise-toi, Blaise!" he sneered at him; his accent was equally perfect, even though Jade didn't approve of the foul language they used. She only shook her head. Her wish for the two boys to simply get along was obviously delusional.

She gave Draco a quick peck on the lips before she got out of his embrace. Then she took out her wand and gave it a casual flick. _"Accio Chewing Gums!"_ she thought and only a moment later the small bucket was overstuffed with dried gum.

"Now you can at least read a book for the next hour." She said silently and Draco smiled at her in gratitude. Switching back to his usual behaviour, he tenderly kissed her forehead and then took the bucket from the desk and strode off deeper into the library.

As Jade turned towards Blaise her lips were pursed and her eyebrows raised high; he was looking down at the floor with a sheepish grin.

"Can't you ever give it a rest, Blaise?"

"Not if the situation is simply asking for it.." he smirked.

Jade sighed in frustration; apparently this little fight between them was equally amusing for both of them... Well, if they needed this for their male egos, Jade would simply ignore it as long as she didn't get involved.

And so she followed Blaise out of the library and smiled as he accompanied her up to the Gryffindor Tower without asking. He hadn't done that in a long time.

* * *

The next week passed quickly and without any major incidents. Harry called them down to the stormy, wet pitch every night of the week and Jade was looking forward to the game against Hufflepuff more and more. With all the Quidditch training and school work she hadn't found any time to meet up with Draco. He had waited for her once after class and asked if she wanted to stay in school on Sunday, when everyone else was leaving the castle to go to Hogsmeade. It would be the perfect opportunity to spend the day together, because no one would be noticing their absence. For the rest of the week Jade was counting down the days and was getting extremely excited; that was until a sign appeared on the notice board on Saturday night telling the students that the trip was cancelled. Jade felt close to blowing up the Gryffindor Tower in her frustration.

And so the next day the only things she had to look forward to were another one of those dreary Apparition lessons and Hermione and Ron fighting on his birthday. She had very secretly bought a present for the boy, so Hermione wouldn't be cross with her, but as they sat down at the breakfast table, Jade noticed that Hermione was clutching at something under the table that looked suspiciously close to a wrapped present.

As Harry and Ron still hadn't arrived ten minutes later, Hermione and Jade started eating alone, assuming that Ron wanted to sleep in on his birthday. It wasn't until Professor McGonagall came rushing into the Hall with a solemn expression on her face that Jade slowly got a bad feeling about this. She nudged Hermione in the side as the professor came hurrying straight into their direction.

"Miss Granger, Miss Heywood, please follow me."

Quickly Jade and Hermione threw down their cutlery and scrambled up from the bench to follow the professor out of the hall. McGonagall only began speaking as they had reached the landing of the marble staircase.

"Mr Weasley has been severely poisoned. His state is critical. Potter waits in front of the Hospital Wing. You'll be excused for today's Apparition lesson." Her expression was stern as ever, but she looked slightly worried, and as she spoke Hermione's face turned white as a sheet. Both of the girls were shocked at these news and Jade felt as if her feet were somehow frozen to the ground until Hermione turned and sprinted up the staircase.

Jade's mind was blank as she ran after the girl. Critical condition? What did that mean? He would make it, wouldn't he?

Harry was still standing outside the large double-doors as the girls arrived. He didn't look as panicky as Jade felt like and that calmed her down for a moment as Hermione quickly demanded to know what had happened. As Jade listened to him, his words sank into her like cold ice.

_Poisoned mead from Slughorn... a forgotten Christmas present for Dumbledore... saved by a bezoar..._

The moment Harry had mentioned the name of Dumbledore Jade's stomach had almost turned over. She knew who was responsible for this, even though she didn't want to believe it. And as Ginny arrived and Harry told the entire story once again, she slowly slid down the wall and sat on the cold stone floor in the shadows. She felt sicker by the minute as she heard Ginny and Harry discuss who could have done this.

Ron had almost died. This could have turned out so much worse than it did. How could Draco do something like this? After what had happened to Katie? ! He had almost killed two of her friends now. And it could have been even more.. They could have _died_!

She felt like crying and as the morning turned into the afternoon and the afternoon turned into the early evening and Madam Pomfrey still had not opened the doors, Jade knew she had to find him.

* * *

_A/N: I hope you liked this :) And a big welcome to all my new readers.. I got so many nice reviews from you! The next chapter will be Draco's P.O.V. again ;) _


	40. Chapter 40

As Draco walked through the dungeons in the late evening, he couldn't help but acknowledge the slight feeling of worry that had spread through his body. Jade hadn't been at their Apparition lesson, nor at dinner and neither had her friends. He hated it when she simply disappeared like this.

The last weeks had been good. He had her back, he was working on his task more fervently than ever, he even was getting his homework done.. not that he himself was actually writing the stuff, but still... everything was as good as it could be. Except for the small fact that Jade had gone missing again. It made him fidgety.

He turned left and his hands were buried deeply inside his pockets as he reached the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room and uttered the password. It was jam-packed with his house mates as he entered, but instantly Draco could see the tallest of them striding up and down in front of the fireplace. So Zabini was worried, too...

The relationship, if you could call it that, between the two boys had never been exactly friendly, but lately their mutual disdain had turned into something slightly more respectful. And Draco knew that the point where it had changed was the morning Zabini had followed him down to the dungeons after breakfast. They hadn't really talked; Zabini had only asked him one simple question and Draco had answered it with an honesty that had even surprised himself at the time.

Of course, no onlooker would ever see the subtle change the boys had gone through, not even Jade would, and they themselves wouldn't admit it either; but they shared something important and bonded over that. They still liked to fight and spit out insults at each other; it was a convenient source of entertainment after all and old habits simply died hard. But on this night Draco walked over to the dark boy, who stood still as he saw him approach.

"Heard anything from her?" Draco muttered.

Zabini shook his head. "Not a word. Her friends are gone, too. You remember the last time that happened..." Draco could see worry in his dark eyes and nodded. He remembered that night when Jade had run off to the Ministry; Zabini's restlessness had driven him even crazier than he already had been on his own.

He looked behind them; a few third-years were sitting on his favourite couch. He gave them a deadly stare and they quickly scrambled up to offer him the seat. Smirking, he sat down and a moment later Zabini did the same. For some time they sat there in silence, both not keen to talk, but somehow comfortable in each other's company. However, it wasn't until a large stream of students entered the Common Room, apparently coming back after a late supper, that Draco's eyes were drawn away from the fire. Blaise had sat up rigidly.

"That's from her!" he pointed at something that was flying through the air into their direction. It was a small bird, folded out of parchment. It came fluttering directly towards them and sat down upon Draco's knee. As it unfolded itself, Jade's handwriting could be seen upon it.

_Study room. Now._

Blaise had leaned over to read the note as well and his brows knitted together as he seemed to decipher Jade's state of mind just by the angle of her handwriting.

"You're in some deep shit." He finally said, looking slightly pleased.

"You wish." Draco shot back. "She just wants to take it up where we left it."

But his sneer didn't convince the other boy, who merely snorted, and neither did it convince himself if he had to be honest; he just wouldn't give Blaise the validation. He folded the little parchment up again and rose slowly from the couch. Blaise had fallen back against the backrest with a satisfied smirk on his face, his long legs outstretched and an amused glint in his eyes as he watched Draco weaving his way through the crowd of students.

He received a few ugly stares by Pansy and her posse as he passed them; she was still angry with him about what had happened before Christmas. But only a moment later he was wandering through the dark dungeons again and slowly he began to think that Zabini was possibly right. He looked down at the parchment in his hand. Only three words, but enough to tell him that something wasn't right. He had no idea what he had done this time; since he had gotten her back he had been on his best behaviour.

But apparently this wasn't just about the two of them anyway, was it? No, the Mudblood and her two cretinous friends hadn't shown their visages in school today either... Maybe Potter had tried to save the world again? But where would _he_ be involved in that?

He didn't really worry though as he quietly made his way up to sixth floor. Even if Jade was angry with him, he could deal with that, couldn't he?

He only passed a few students on his way and as he finally pushed down the handle of the door leading to their study room, he couldn't help but feel a faint trace of trepidation pushing its way into his mind. The room was dark; no fire roared in the fireplace and a cold breeze flowed over the polished stone floor as he entered. Jade was sitting with her back to him on the couch, unmoving and staring into the empty hole of the fireplace.

Draco had expected to be facing an angry Jade that stormed at him with fury blazing in her feline eyes. But as he slowly got closer and she still didn't turn around to look at him, he somehow got the impression that she was... mourning. This wasn't good... Draco's luck really sucked at the moment.

Finally her voice broke the silence. It wasn't much more than a whisper as she spoke. "What did you do?"

Then she stood up and as she turned to look at him, something clenched at his insides and he knew something had gone terribly wrong. Her eyes were darker than usual, they were full of sorrow, and they didn't light up as she caught sight of him. The corners of her mouth didn't lift and his soul ached as he saw her like that. Had she been crying?

And then she spoke again and her grief was evident in her voice. "Ron almost died today. He drank poisoned mead. Slughorn gave it to him... a present for Dumbledore.. he forgot about." That was where her voice broke and she buried her face in her hands.

For a moment Draco felt as if his insides were frozen. The same sickening feeling washed over him that had haunted him after he had witnessed Katie Bell's 'accident' all those months ago. Shock, guilt and repulsion about what he had done mixed together inside of him.

He remembered how he had ordered Rosmerta to poison the mead shortly before Christmas break. He had forgotten about it after nothing had happened, thinking Dumbledore had immediately recognized the poison. He never had taken into account that Slughorn might be keeping it for himself. It had been a lethal dose...

"How could he..?" he asked, his voice sounded throaty.

"A bezoar. Harry thought of it." Jade answered his unspoken question. Draco nodded. Count on Potter and his hero complex to save the day, he thought. But this time he actually had to be grateful; he had saved him from becoming a murderer. Not that that really made him feel any better at the moment. Those were chapters of his life he just wanted to forget.

Jade's hands had fallen from her face again and she was looking at Draco in a way that made him feel even more ashamed of what he had done. She looked repulsed. "How could you do this?" she asked faintly.

Draco couldn't stand her gaze and so he turned and leaned against the mantelpiece of the fireplace for some support; his knuckles were pale against the marble.

"I've been thinking about it the whole day." Jade said; her voice sounded slightly higher than usual, but apparently it was easier for her to talk when his eyes weren't on her. "You know Slughorn always invites students. He could have opened the bottle at one of his parties! So many people could have died! Didn't you think? Didn't you care? ! It could have been anyone! It could have been me!"

"Don't say that!" Draco interrupted her loudly. He felt like shit again.

For a moment there was silence and her words echoed like screams in his mind. The truth of them made him feel even sicker. If it had been her.. he would have killed himself.

"There's this side of you, I never knew." Jade said, her voice almost cracking by now. "It scares me to see it. And I never want to see it. I can't believe that you do things like that.. After what happened to Katie. That you don't even care if you accidentally _kill_ someone... your friends... my friends.. or even me. You simply don't care." Then her voice faded away.

For a second Draco wanted nothing more than to turn and start shouting at her. Was she really thinking he didn't care if he murdered people? Did she think it was easy for him to hear this? He wanted to storm at her and scream out that she had no idea what he had been through. No idea how he had felt like. That he had been at a point where he didn't care about his own life anymore.

But he wouldn't, he wouldn't let it out on her.. he wouldn't yell at her. He felt his insides burn as Jade watched him and had to fight to keep his body from shaking. Again there was silence and as he slowly turned his head to the side to look at her again, she shook her head. Her long curls fell into her face and her eyes were hidden from him.

"It makes me wonder... Maybe we just wanted to jump back in time.. But it's not as easy like that. You've changed.. And I've changed.. Maybe we shouldn't .." Her voice sounded close to tears now and at her words Draco felt slightly alarmed. Was she about to break up with him?

His stomach twisted. He had been so confident that he had her back, that she was safely his. But now it felt as if she was slipping away from him... just like that.

"No!" he finally woke up from his stupor and pushed away from the fireplace. He took a few steps towards her. "You can't judge me because of that! That's not me! You know that's not me!"

He had taken hold of her shoulders now and as she turned her dark eyes to look up at him, Draco recognized a feeling inside them, he knew too well himself. "You're scared." He said. "That's why you're trying to push me away."

Her lower lip quivered. Draco's hands moved up to her neck, but she took a step back and moved out of his reach.

"So what if I am scared? Who wouldn't be? I'm scared of so many things. And now I also have to be scared of you?"

There was a mixture of pain, anger and fear on her face and Draco had no idea how to handle this situation. His pride made him unable to beg for her forgiveness and he still didn't know how to explain himself in any other way. How could you explain a mistake you made, when it was a mistake that had almost killed someone? The only thing he knew right now was that he couldn't lose her.

"Since I've got you back" he said after a moment "I never did anything like that again. And I won't. I was at a really bad place back then. And you're right, I _made_ myself not care. But I do. I won't hurt you anymore.. "

She still stood in front of him, looking more scared than Draco had ever seen her. Gryffindors rarely got scared like this, but right now she much more resembled a frightened kitten than a roaring lion. He knew she had trouble trusting him and she probably just wanted to save herself before she got hurt again. But he wouldn't hurt her this time..

"I promise." He said and raised his arm to offer her his hand. For a horrible moment Draco thought she would reject him and give up on them. Her eyes had been looking down on the floor, but then they shoot up again and he knew he hadn't lost her. Gently she laid her hand into his and a huge wave of relief washed over him.

He couldn't help but smile as he took another step closer and laid his arms around her. He wanted to kiss her, but she had already turned her head to the side and so he buried his face in her hair and kissed the side of her head. He loved her smell. "You really had my heart pounding for a second..." he mumbled.

"Good to know you still have one.." Her voice sounded as if she was smiling.

"That was harsh." He smirked as he wrapped his arms closer around her body and kissed her temple.

"You can handle it.." She turned her face up towards him and Draco saw that the usual shine had returned to her deep brown eyes. They looked right down into his soul and he let her, knowing that she was the only one he'd ever open up to like that. And in that moment he felt the need to tell her again that he loved her. He needed her to know. But to bring out these words another time, when she still had left him in doubt about whether she felt the same way, was difficult for him. He wanted her to say it back, to tell him that she really loved him, too. But he couldn't ask her that. And so he remained silent.

One of her small hands found the way up to his face and she stroked back a wisp of hair that had fallen into his eyes. Her hand travelled down his cheek and to his neck and Draco leaned forward to lower himself on her level, his nose softly touching hers. His hands moved up into her hair and as she didn't flinch, he started kissing her lips. He loved her taste. She only responded for a short moment before she turned her face to the side and leaned against his chest, but it was enough to satisfy his need and quench his fear of losing her.

For a long moment they simply stood there like that. He held her close to him and tenderly stroked her hair as she snuggled against him. He couldn't resist the temptation to squeeze her a little tighter and saw the corners of her mouth turn slightly upwards. The little movement made him happier than he would have liked to admit and he placed another kiss on top of her head. They both knew deep down that they belonged together. She might get scared and he might fuck it up, but as long as they still had each other at the end of the day, everything was not lost.

* * *

It took quite some time until one of them spoke again. "Meet me tomorrow?" he asked, knowing that it was getting late by now.

Jade slowly got out of his embrace and shook her head. "I can't. There's Quidditch practice every day of the week now. We just lost our Keeper."

"The game is on Saturday, isn't it?" he asked, his hands trailing down her arms to catch her hands in his.

Jade nodded with a pretty smile on her pink lips. "You could come and watch me."

"As much as I would like to wave your little Gryffindor flag in the air," Draco scoffed. "I prefer to set to work when the castle is empty."

Her smile turned into a little pout. He quickly kissed it away, making her laugh against his lips. She had the most beautiful laugh.

Slowly she walked backwards out of his reach and, still smiling, she turned around and approached the door. He had pushed his hands down into his pockets as he watched her hesitate for a moment; she looked back and smiled and then, without saying a word, she slipped through the door and closed it behind her.

* * *

Jade had been right with saying that Potter would let his team train every day. Each night during dinner the team came back, looking more bruised, battered and drenched in the cold rain of early March as the week went on. Apparently the training of the new Keeper didn't go as planned.. Or it was something else that disgruntled the team like this.

He had heard about the fight between Jade and Ginny Weasley; it was a shame that he had missed it. He would have loved to see Jade in some action... He smirked as his eyes wandered down the Gryffindor table. It was clear from the faces over there that this fight wasn't over yet. Weasley's girlfriends were gossiping unashamedly while staring and laughing at Jade, who held her head high and didn't acknowledge their mere existence.

Quickly Draco tore his eyes away from her and let them wander down his own table. Crabbe and Goyle were sitting to his side, grunting and smacking their lips as they ate. If he looked at them for too long, he would surely lose his appetite, which was poor enough as it was.

Blaise, Pansy and Daphne were sitting on his other side; the girls were involved in some silent discussion and Blaise was brooding again. He did that a lot lately. Even more than before.. if that was possible. Draco's eyes travelled back to Pansy and he saw that the girl was watching him. He wasn't exactly missing her, but somehow it had always been nice to have her around at times when she hadn't been so bloody annoying. She always had had his back and by now it was becoming more and more difficult to have his way in his own house. Having Pansy and her minions on his side would help him. But he knew she would only forgive him if he raised her up to girlfriend status and that simply wasn't an option.

That was the thing with his Slytherin friends.. They only helped you if they gained something from it. And there wasn't anything to gain from him at the moment. At least as long as he didn't play the Death Eater card..

* * *

A short time later most students were leaving the Great Hall for their Common Rooms and as the Slytherins wandered down through the dungeons again, Draco lagged behind. He took a little detour and relished in the quietness of the dark corridors. It was nice to have a moment of calmness.

It took him some time, but when he finally arrived in the eerily-lit Common Room, small groups of students had already formed on the various couches and armchairs. He furrowed his brow as he spotted the entire Slytherin Quidditch team gathered over in a corner of the room. The six large boys were lurking in the shadows and trying to keep their voices down while talking to each other. Draco had seen this kind of behaviour a million times already. They were plotting something.

Determinedly, he made his way over to his team mates; he saw Blaise sitting close-by, hidden from the other boys behind a tall armchair. His eyes were looking down at this evening's _Prophet_, but they didn't move... Bloody eavesdropper. But Draco didn't mind tonight and he smirked as he casually strode over towards the end of the room, his hands in his pockets again and his eyes on the leader of the group, Urquhart. He wasn't as tall or as sturdy as most of the other team members, but his violent character made up for his shortcomings in physical ability.

"Ah, our Seeker!" he called out with a leery grin on his face. "I already feared that you would miss our little meeting today."

It was obvious from his tone that his feelings were quite the opposite. He didn't like to have Draco here.

"I wanted ter tell yeh, but..." Goyle piped up, but was quickly nudged in the side by Crabbe. Draco pursed his lips; Crabbe was slowly becoming a problem. But still he acted unfazed and drew out his wand to make another chair appear from thin air, directly across from Urquhart.

"So.. what are you planning, Urq?" Vaisey asked. "It's about the game on Saturday, isn't it?"

Urquhart nodded, his eyes flicked quickly over to Draco, who had sat down by now and was twirling his wand in his left hand. The Slytherin Captain knew he had no other choice than to entrust him in whatever his plan was and so he let out a little grunt and began to speak.

"Gryffindor against Hufflepuff." He drawled. Those words alone made his teammates snicker and spit out insults at different players of the other teams. Draco knew what was coming now. It wasn't unusual that the Slytherins planned small assaults on the other teams as the end of the season drew nearer.

"If Potter wins," Urquhart explained "he practically holds the cup in his hands already. We have to make sure that won't happen."

"How do we do that?" Harper asked greedily. Urquhart only tapped one finger against his temple in response; Draco could barely restrain a snort.

"I've got a plan." He said with a malicious grin. "I think no one of us would like to go up against Potter himself, but I know that the real strength of his team lies in his two Chasers. They are girls. It'll be easy."

"You mean Weasley and Heywood?" asked Vaisey.

Urquhart nodded. "Exactly. I've seen them play lately. Weasley can score goals blindfolded and Heywood has tricks up her sleeve, you don't even want to see. We need one of them in the Hospital Wing. So we'll go after both and see what we can manage."

The other boys started laughing and grinning in approval. All Draco could do in that moment was try and keep his facade from crumbling down.

If one of these bastards touched her.. he would curse them into pieces and feed them to the giant squid.. or he would shove them into the Vanishing Cabinet alive.. or test if the Cruciatus curse really could sent people to a permanent ward at St. Mungo's...

His fingers were curled around his wand as his anger pumped through his veins. He felt Urquhart's eyes on him and tried to relax and use the old Occlumency technique. _Get rid of those emotions.. _He needed to be in on this to be able to protect her.

"What is your plan exactly?" he asked Urquhart.

The other boy grinned sardonically. "Weasley tomorrow. Heywood Saturday morning."

Draco nodded. He would make sure that none of these twats came near her on Saturday.

"Oh, I wish we could do Heywood first. Not a filthy bloodtraitor like Weasley..." the Chaser Miles Bletchley lamented.

Draco concentrated. He needed to clear his mind quickly now.

Vaisey laughed in a brute way. "Yeah, Miles, I always thought you had a thing for her. Always presented her the Quaffle on a silver platter.. Probably thought she'd let you get some after the game, huh? That stuck-up bitch needs to be put in her place anyway. You could make her beg for it."

Draco wondered how _Vaisey's head _would look on a silver platter.

"Sure," Miles shot back. "but remember not all of us have such tiny dicks that we need that to make us feel like some big man."

_Ah.. there it goes._ Draco watched how the team quickly split up into two groups. He stayed in his seat as they started shouting and insulting each other. Wands were drawn quickly and for a moment it seemed to escalate until Urquhart shouted louder then all of them. "Quiet!"

Grumbling and cursing, they sat down on their seats again. "You idiots! We don't want to create a mess! Simple, effective spells and not getting caught should be our priority. Now stick to the plan and get lost!"

The team listened to their Captain and quickly chairs were pushed to the side and the boys left into different directions of the room. Draco saw how Vaisey glared at Miles as the latter stayed back to talk to Urquhart. He probably wanted to get Vaisey out of this, so he wouldn't get all of them into trouble with his lack of restraint when it came to girls.

With his eyes still on Vaisey, Draco almost walked into someone. A hand on his shoulder stopped him and he quickly turned and saw Zabini standing right in front of him. He looked about as angry as Draco felt like.

"I got this." He mumbled and Blaise nodded. Then he removed his hand from Draco's shoulder and left with one last scathing look at Urquhart.

* * *

The next day Draco found no opportunity to talk to Jade without anyone noticing it and as he sat down at the Slytherin table that night, Urquhart quietly passed him a note.

_Weasley just had detention with Snape. We'll catch her on second floor. Only Me, Crabbe, Goyle and You._

Swiftly, Draco got up from the table again and followed the other Slytherin boys out of the Great Hall. As soon as they were out of earshot from anyone, Urquhart started giving out instructions.

"Malfoy, you'll be on lookout at the end of the corridor. Crabbe, Goyle, you'll distract her with minor jinxes and hexes. And I'll handle the rest. A well-aimed curse should do."

Draco didn't like to be ordered around, but the job of the lookout pleased him. He had no intention of hexing the Weaselette. It would be difficult enough to explain his involvement in this to Jade anyway. But if Weasley didn't even see him...

And so he stayed behind and waited as the other boys ambushed the redheaded girl. They didn't have to wait for too long for her to arrive. She tried to pass them quickly, fully aware of what could happen to Quidditch players so shortly before the game. But Crabbe and Goyle blocked her way and Draco, who had backed away into a small alcove, watched how the girl turned back to face Urquhart. He couldn't understand what she was saying, but he heard how the tone of her voice was firing up quickly. That girl had guts.

Behind her back Crabbe and Goyle were getting out their wands.. Such cowards. It really was pathetic.. Three large guys against one girl... And he was hiding here in the shadows. He was just as pathetic as they were. But he knew that if Weasley took the curse now, Jade wouldn't even be targeted tomorrow.

Suddenly everything happened very quickly. There were yells of "_Tarantallegra!_" and "_Locomotor Mortis!_" and as Crabbe's spell missed her, Goyle's hit its target and Weasley's legs started dancing uncontrollably. She tried to fumble out her own wand from her robes, but another spell hit her squarely in the back and she keeled over and fell on the floor face first, unable to catch herself due to her wildly-twitching legs.

Blood sputtered from her mouth and Draco thought he saw her spit out a tooth; he grimaced in disgust. This was slightly too messy for his taste. He didn't like to watch this. Weasley let out a little yelp, her face turned up towards Urquhart, who was pointing his wand down at her. Finally she did get scared.

And Draco didn't know what it was, but in that moment something made him set out his foot and get out from behind his hiding spot. He raised his wand in his hand. He was no coward.

And just as Urquhart opened his mouth and Draco did the same, something small rushed past him. For a second he thought he had seen some sort of animal. He blinked. It was Jade!

She whipped out her wand as she sprinted down the corridor and only a second later a shower of curses and spells came raining down upon the three Slytherin boys. Draco watched her swirl over the floor and duel with an amazing skill. He had never seen anyone their age fight like this. She looked as if she had been trained profoundly. It didn't take long and Crabbe, Goyle and Urquhart were under her control, restrained by three suits of armour that had sprung into life on her accord.

Slowly Draco came closer. "Finite" he heard her voice as she pointed her wand at Weasley's jerking legs and they finally stayed still. Then Jade kneeled down next to the girl and threw her long brown waves of hair out of her face. She touched the ginger girl's shoulder tentatively, checking if she was alright.

The other girl nodded, blood was still trickling down her chin; but then her face twitched and slowly a few tears came rolling down her cheeks, probably from the shock. Draco felt guilty; crying girls always had that effect on him. He didn't like to see them cry.. It didn't exactly enhance their appearance either.

Seeing the youngest Weasley like that seemed to have an effect on Jade as well and she quickly gave the girl a real hug, not caring if the blood got smeared across her own robes as she stroked her red hair. She rubbed her back as Draco took the last steps up to them.

"It's alright, Ginny.." she cooed. "Let me have a look at that."

And then Jade gingerly took the freckled face into her hands and lifted her wand again. She vanished the blood and healed the girl quickly. Again, Draco had never seen anyone of their age do something like this. Somehow he got the impression as if Jade's uncle had expertly trained her for situations like this... for combat. And it suddenly stunned him how little he really knew of her.

Urquhart, who had been wrestling with his suit of armour for the entire time, had finally accepted the fact that he was stuck in a headlock and as Jade pulled the Weaselette up on her feet again, he spat out at her "How did you know, Heywood?"

Jade didn't even turn to look as she answered. "Well, let's say Vaisey gets really chatty when confronted with blood..."

It was only in that moment that Draco realized that they hadn't been planning to attack Jade tomorrow. That's why they only were so few of them today! The others had gone off to hunt Jade down at the same time he had gone with Urquhart after Weasley. That lying bastard! He had fooled him!

"You said you'd go after her tomorrow!" he yelled at the other Slytherin. He didn't even respond, but merely laughed at him.

"Oh, you wanted to get me tomorrow, did you?" Jade hissed at him. She clearly was angry.

She shoved him to the side as she took hold of Weasley's hand and pulled her down the corridor with her. Without thinking about it, Draco followed. He didn't say anything on their way and quickly enough he found himself standing in front of McGonagall's office. Definitely not one of his preferred places to be within the castle.

"Go in without me, Ginny. I'll follow in a moment."

After the redhead had vanished behind the large wooden door, Jade turned back towards him. Draco wanted to curse his fate for presenting him his girl this angry twice in one week. Although she looked slightly adorable when fuming like that. His smirk obviously aggravated her even more and she actually took a step forward and pushed against his chest.

"Was that supposed to be a shove?" He snickered at her incredulously. He could already see the steam protruding from her ears as she looked at him with wide eyes. "Just try a little harder next time.."

She let out a moan of fury and pushed against his chest with all her might. It made Draco laugh even more; he hadn't even budged an inch. "Honey, if you wanted to play rough, all you had to do was ask."

"Don't '_honey'_ me right now!" she hissed. Her nose twitched a little as she looked up at him; Draco couldn't help but be reminded of an angry cat as he saw her. She tried to lunge out at him another time, but this time he caught her hands in his. He couldn't help but smile, she was so cute in her fury. She still struggled against him, but he easily pulled one of her fists up to his face and kissed her knuckles. Jade didn't approve.

"Stop this, you twit! I'm angry!"

"I can see that!" he chuckled. It was hard for him to keep a straight face, but he did his best to remain serious as he said "I didn't know they would go after you today. And you can't be angry about them hexing the Weasley girl. I heard you hexed her yourself not so long ago." He cocked one of his eyebrows at her in a patronizing way, but Jade's face remained furious.

"That doesn't mean I want three of your dim-witted friends to curse her like that!"

Ah, bloody Gryffindors and their never-wavering loyalty... It wasn't as if Draco hadn't expected this. "Jade, you know I would have stopped them if I could."

Her hands were still held in place by his own and she finally gave up her struggling. She got closer now and her face softened. He didn't know what she was doing, but suddenly she was very close. Just close enough..

The grip on her wrists slackened as he leaned down towards her. She had probably only waited for him to make this mistake and wrenched her arms out of his hands to give him another shove away from her. This time he actually wavered.

Quickly she stepped away from him, but Draco had seen that she was grinning. "I won't peach on you." She said over her shoulder as she got closer towards McGonagall's study. "I saw how you stepped out to help her. I never thought you had a Samaritan bone in your body."

"Trust me, no one is more shocked or ashamed than I am."

She had reached the door as he spoke, but turned and smiled at him, a real smile. He looked into her eyes and thought he could see something glimmer inside them.

"It makes me love you a little more." She said softly before she entered the professor's office and left Draco standing alone in the hallway.

...

_What had she just said?_

She really had said that, hadn't she? He couldn't help but laugh and shake his head as he stood there. Yes, she really had said that. She didn't only love him, she loved him _more_.. As he sauntered down the corridor, he was sure that the grin would probably never move out of his face again.

* * *

_A/N: Got a little inspired by Chuck Bass this time, hope you didn't mind ;)_

_Please leave me your reviews and thoughts on this.. :)_


	41. Chapter 41

_A/N: I'm soo sorry it took me so long. I can't promise you it won't happen again, but I'll try my best. Please leave me your thoughts on this :-)_

* * *

Long after the door to Professor McGonagall's study had closed, Draco was still wandering through the ancient corridors of the castle. He couldn't say that Jade's words had brought him true happiness, only a fool would be ignorant enough to be happy in his situation; but they had given him a little more peace of mind. And so he wasn't paying attention to where he was going as his feet carried him through high-ceilinged hallways and up old, secret staircases, while his brain started brooding again.

His determination to do the Dark Lord's bidding was stronger than ever and in his head he started going over his plan again and again. _The Vanishing Cabinet... its matching pair at Borgin and Burkes... other Death Eaters to create a distraction... _It really could work. And he would be able to face Dumbledore alone eventually. That was the part of his plan, he did not like to think about. It was clear what he had to do; there was no use in going over it. If he ever made it to this moment, he either failed or.. or ultimately Jade would be in love with a murderer. He didn't like to think about it.

And for now it probably sufficed to concentrate on the Cabinet; he hadn't even spoken to any other Death Eater about his plan. He wanted to wait until he knew for sure that it would work. Of course, Greyback was visiting Borgin from time to time to make sure he was working on what Draco had asked him to, but nobody really knew what his plan was. Even though some, in particular Snape, were pressuring him to tell them... That greasy-haired bat had long been another concern on Draco's mind. Again and again, Snape had tried to poke his ugly nose into his business and Draco knew that he couldn't trust him anymore. Snape probably wanted to make sure that his father would never return to the Dark Lord's graces again, so he himself could keep the high position among the Death Eaters. He might sabotage everything, if he got the chance. And so Draco had made it a priority to keep Snape completely in the dark when it came to what he was planning.

He had reached a place within the castle, he was pretty sure, he had never seen before. A very high, pointed-arch window was marking the end of the corridor; its glass was stained with a scene from one of the many wizarding wars. If Draco ever listened to Professor Binns, he'd probably know what exactly was happening in the picture, where spells and hexes were fired off and sparks of every colour exploded under the surface. The sun far behind the stained glass was slowly sinking and as the light shone through the window it made the entire corridor gleam in a mysterious way as the witches and wizards on the glass continued to battle each other. And it was beautiful and cruel at the same time.

* * *

It was long past curfew as Draco finally entered the Slytherin Common Room and what he saw didn't surprise him; he had expected it even, knowing that there would be retribution to pay for leaving Urquhart and the other boys in the grip of Jade's spellwork. The moment he entered, he saw a movement inside the room. The six boys were sitting by the fireplace with grim expressions on their faces and on a nod of their Captain, they all stood up.

As if he didn't have a care in the world, Draco strolled further inside the room, with his hands buried in his pockets, and waited until the others had formed a perfect circle around him. Urquhart was standing directly across from him; it was the place where he himself used to stand, back when he still was the one to pick on others. But things had changed. Not only where he was, but also who he was. There might have been a time, when being circled by six large blokes had intimidated him, even frightened him, but now he had been through so much worse. A serene smile played on his lips as he waited for Urquhart to speak.

"You'd better explain yourself, Malfoy!" he finally grunted with a furious look on his face "The entire team got detention because of you. And you can see, we are not too happy about that!"

A grumbling and murmuring went through the group of boys; it was clear that they didn't see the fault in Urquhart's stupid plan, but in Draco's unwillingness to fight against the girls.

"Well, I, unlike you, was able to talk my way out of it." Draco sneered, aggravating his teammates even more. "And if you would have wanted my help, you had better told me the real plan in the first place."

Urquhart laughed a humourless laugh. "Well, I was right about no trusting you, Malfoy, wasn't I? You ran after that crazy witch like a stupid dog! I knew you fancied her! And not just like Miles.. You would betray you teammates for that skank! I must say I'm not surprised. I wanted to kick you off my team since I became Captain. But I guess your father's money still buys you that position.. Seeker.." he spat "You've fallen from grace just like him. Your father. Some say he's not even in the Dark Lord's inner circle anymore. After all it's his fault that Crabbe's, Goyle's" he nodded towards the boys in question "and Nott's fathers are all stuck in Azkaban as well. I guess we'll see as soon as he comes out how low the Malfoy family really has fallen."

Draco had listened to all this with a cold indifference on his face. Urquhart didn't know anything. Apparently his lack of reaction made the other boy even angrier.

"You know I really wonder" he hissed as his green eyes sparkled viciously "how your mummy puts up with this. Must be awfully alone without your loser of a father. I thought about paying her a visit.."

Draco's eyes turned into slits.. One word... One word and he was going to curse that bastard faster than he was able to blink.

".. I mean I have pretty good chances, haven't I? I have the money and the wife of a rich wimp like Lucius Malfoy must be a _whore_.." That was the word.

There was a bang, a jet of light and Urquhart flew through the air. Before anyone could even react Draco had already set after him; he pulled him up from the floor and pushed him up against the wall with his right arm as his wand was pressed tightly against his throat.

"If I were you," Draco hissed and without thinking about it, he pulled down the sleeve of his left arm. "I'd be worried whose mother is going to be paid a visit." There were gasps of shock and awe as everyone saw what was branded into his skin. He had kept it a secret until now..

"So, you really carry the Mark.." Urquhart whispered, he seemed intimidated and impressed at the same time. All these idiots around Draco still thought that it was an honour to be wearing the Mark. They didn't see what the Dark Lord really was; for them he was their bloody Messiah, the one who would change the world and bring everything to the right order. They believed that Muggles should be ruled over and Mudbloods should best be killed right away. They were all young men, but already fanatic. And as long as they didn't know the real reason why Draco bore the Mark, they would respect him like no other.

"I do." Draco's breathing was still faster than usual; he wasn't quite sure if he had just made a mistake. And with his wand still pressed against Urquhart's neck, he looked around at the stunned faces of the other boys. "If anyone of you thinks about telling someone.." he threatened them. They all shook their heads; Crabbe and Goyle had started grinning stupidly by now.

Slowly he let go of Urquhart and lowered his wand, shaking his sleeve back over his branded skin. Without another word he turned and made his way to his dormitory. Even before he had left the room, he heard the whispering breaking out again. "I always knew he had it." Crabbe mumbled, a hint of pride in his voice, as Draco shut the door behind him.

* * *

The next morning he got a taste of what it was like to be the Slytherin Prince again. He was sure that none of the boys had revealed that he was a Death Eater, they were much too scared and intimidated by the mere fact that he had already spoken to the Dark Lord; but nevertheless a silent murmuring went through the castle that morning. And as he walked down the Slytherin table people were staring at him in awe, trying to talk to him and tripping over their own feet in order to offer him a seat. The giggling groups of girls were back, too. They whispered to each other and got bright red in the face if he returned their gazes only for a second. It might be a nice change and it was exactly how it had been two years ago, when he had been fourteen, but back then all of this had somehow made him content and it couldn't do that for him anymore. He didn't know why, but as he sat there and the people were crowding around him, he wished to be the underdog again. And so he stood up early from his seat and vanished out of the Great Hall with Crabbe and Goyle at his side, before anyone else could notice that he was not going to watch the game between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff that day.

And so, a short time later, when Jade soared up into the sky at the stadium, Draco renewed every single enchantment on the Vanishing Cabinet. There were loads of them for many different purposes. Some to ensure that the wizard would disappear, some to make sure that he would do so in one piece and others to direct him to the twin of the Cabinet in London. He had successfully made objects travel from one Cabinet to the other, but the only time he had tried it with something that actually lived, it had come back dead.

And today it was no different. He allowed himself a little break and stood up to wander through the Room of hidden objects. He could find his way around here blindfolded by now and he often wondered about the stories that lay behind all these secret items, old diaries, books of any sort and ancient jewellery. He never touched any of it, in case it was cursed, but still he liked to imagine who had left them here.

Today he wished this room had a window.. then maybe he could watch the game a little or even hear the commentary. He was just contemplating if he should leave the room for a small tour to the nearest window, when a searing pain shot up in his left arm. He buckled over and moaned in agony, pressing his arm to his chest, and knew instantly what this was meaning. It was a call.

Quickly, Draco staggered down the aisles in between highly piled-up treasury from decades of Hogwarts' students and rushed through the door. Crabbe and Goyle were still on the lookout for him and their first-year faces looked alarmed as they saw him stumble into the corridor. He was clutching at his arm as his skin felt as if it was being branded with a hot iron. He didn't care to tell them what was going on and simply made his way down into the dungeons as the pain slowly subsided.

He knew what he was supposed to do whenever his Mark hurt like this. He was supposed to go down into Snape's office; so that was what he did. Without bothering to knock he ripped open the door and quickly froze as he realized that it was empty. Snape wasn't there and only the dead eyes of the pickled animals stared at him from inside their glasses as he entered. A piece of parchment was lying on top of the Professor's desk. Slowly Draco got nearer and peered down upon it.

_The Three Broomsticks. Room No° 12._

He recognized Snape's tight handwriting and without hesitating he turned towards the dark fireplace in the corner of the room, took a small amount of floo powder from the bowl on the mantelpiece and quickly was gone in a swirl of green flames.

* * *

As he stepped out of the fireplace on the other end, he saw that it wasn't Snape, who was waiting for him in the dark room of the inn. Behind a small table stood a squat and lumpy man, his back was turned towards Draco and a only a few candles lit the shabby room. Amycus Carrow turned as Draco took another step forward and his lopsided leer already told him that his appearance was probably a very bad sign.

"Ah, Malfoy junior." He let out a wheezy giggle. "I see you heard his call." For a second the man made a small pause, but went on after Draco didn't open his mouth to greet him. "The Dark Lord sent me here today to inquire how far you have gotten with your task. He is getting a little.. _impatient_."

Draco nodded as he quickly emptied his mind from anything that could betray him. Talking to Death Eaters always was dangerous; many of them knew instantly when someone was lying or hiding something from them. "I'm still working on it." Was all he said to the other man.

Again, Amycus let out a giggle. "Wasn't that exactly what you said the last time? By now it would be quite interesting to know _what_ you are working on, young Malfoy. The Dark Lord is wondering as well.. "

"It's a way to let more of us into the school." Draco said as Amycus let out a small sneer.

"If there was a way to get inside that school," he said "the Dark Lord would already have thought of it. You can get out.. but you cannot get inside."

"There's a Vanishing Cabinet." Draco's words made Amycus lift his eyebrows in a surprised way. "It is broken at the moment, but I'm repairing it. The other pair is at Borgin and Burkes. As soon as I've repaired the connection, we can use it to get more of us inside the castle. Create an distraction, while I do the rest.."

While Draco talked, Amycus had started smiling in a dangerous way. "That sounds as if it could actually work. It's a way to get inside the castle old Dumby probably never thought about as he created all those protecting enchantments. How long will it take for you to mend it?"

The blond boy shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure. It's rather difficult.."

Amycus Carrow nodded in thought and as if he hadn't heard Draco's last words, he muttered to himself. "Let's see.. Of course Alecto will come with us; she'll be dying to see the old fool crumble... Maybe Yaxley, Rowle, Gibbon... Oh, and Bellatrix most definitely.. And maybe we should take Greyback, too.. Just for a small shocker.."

"No!" Draco interrupted Amycus in his silent talk. The thought of Fenrir Greyback inside the castle, so near to where Jade was, made him sick. Greyback was a monster.. "Not the werewolf!"

"Are you scared, little Malfoy?" Carrow laughed a hollow laugh, but his eyes shone in a dangerous way and gave Draco the impression that there was more to his visit than this simple inquiry. Automatically, he squared his shoulders in anticipation of what was to come. Probably just another set of Cruciatus Curses to make sure he'd work faster on the Cabinet. But the plump man in front of him did not get out his wand; it seemed as if he was waiting for something and as Draco made no attempt to speak, he said "I trust that you will let us know as soon as the time has come. You are free to go now."

And then suddenly Draco saw the catch. "How am I supposed to get back inside the castle?"

Carrow feigned surprise, but Draco could see that he had been waiting for him to ask this. "Oh yes, that's quite a story actually. You see, your mother had a horrible accident today.. Of course, we informed your Head of House that you needed to visit her this morning.."

Nausea built up inside Draco. He knew that what the man was talking about wasn't just a made-up story. "What happened?"

"The accident? Well.. " he pulled out a little watch from his dark robes and nodded as he looked down upon its display; only a second later green fire ignited in the fireplace once again. A mad laughter could be heard through the connection and instantly Draco recognized the voice of Amycus' sister, Alecto Carrow. Then there was a shuffling and rustling on the other side and only a second later something appeared in the fireplace. Blonde hair emerged in the green flames and Draco looked right into the eyes of his mother as she was held in place by a dirty hand around her neck. She didn't even try to struggle and even though she was being half-way shoved into a fireplace, she held her head high and proud. She would always be strong for her son.

"Draco, don't.." but before she could say another word, she was being yanked back again and disappeared in the flames. Draco knew what was to come even before it happened. A shrill cry of "Crucio!", followed by the most horrible sound, Draco thought he'd ever hear.

Panic rose up inside him and before he even knew what he was doing, he had taken a few steps towards the fireplace and was just about to jump inside, when a loud crack ripped through the air and he was thrown off his feet and smashed into the wall behind him. The screams of pain through the fireplace did not ebb away as Draco found his body to be immobile. He couldn't even shout, couldn't even cry..

Amycus grinned maliciously as he came nearer, his wand still in his hand as he talked over the voice of Draco's mother. "We do like our stories realistic, don't we?" Then he fell silent again and with a delighted look on his face he listened to what went on on the other side of the fireplace. For a short moment Alecto would stop and silence would fall, but then there were new cries of "Crucio!" followed by even more horrible screams of agony and Alecto's wheezy laughter. And Draco was left to lie there on the floor, not able to move a single muscle, and every scream of his mother shattered his insides even more. He couldn't think clearly; he only felt more pain than he had ever felt before. And a loathing burning so brightly that it almost extinguished any other feeling.

Amycus laughed again. "A teacher will pick you up at the gate." He shouted over the screams; then he stepped inside the green fire and was gone. Silence fell and as Draco heard his own sobs, he knew that he was able to move again. But he didn't find the strength to stand up and so he just sat there and buried his face in his hands. Numbness had engulfed him and even though he would allow his body to cry, not a single tear made its way out of his eyes. He was in shock. They had done this to his mother... his mother..

* * *

He did not know how long it really took him, but finally he pulled himself up again and left the_ Three Broomsticks_. Outside it was a nice, warm day and he squinted as the bright sun hit his face. He felt void and empty as he made his legs walk to the large iron-wrought gate that led to the grounds of Hogwarts. Somewhere in his mind he registered that the game had to be over as students started walking up to the castle from the stadium. And only a short time later he saw Professor McGonagall hurry over the grounds into his direction. She made some rather complicated movements with her wand as she approached and the gates slowly opened up just enough to let Draco in.

"I hope your mother is feeling better, Mr Malfoy?" she asked him with an unusual concerned look in her eyes. And he didn't know why, but her words made his throat burn. He just nodded; and so did the Professor.

"Well, you can join the other students on their way up, Mr Malfoy." The old witch said and immediately Draco fastened up his steps. He wanted to be alone.

A short moment later he pushed his way through the mass of students that was streaming inside the Entrance Hall. Only distantly he could hear their chattering.

_"I've never seen Gryffindor play this bad." ... "Do you think Harry is alright? It looked really horrible as he fell..".. "His skull probably cracked.."_

Draco knew somewhere back in his mind that he had to go back to seventh floor, but he was craving solitude and silence and so he took some turns on his way up to the Room of Requirement and found himself walking down a deserted corridor. Now he could only hear his own steps, his own breathing and his own thoughts. And slowly the numbness that had spread in his body after he witnessed the torture of his mother, ebbed away again. He knew that this was his fault; he knew they tortured her because he was a failure and he knew that they would probably kill her first, if he really failed.

He kept walking as he noticed how his breathing became irregular. His heart was hammering faster than it ever had before, pumping pure panic through his veins.. He would fail.. he would.. How could he not? And then they all would die... and his mother would be tortured again.. Suddenly he started feeling suffocated and gasped for breath, his heart was still beating wildly.. His chest hurt.. Maybe he was having a heart attack.. It wouldn't be that bad. Maybe it would even save his family, if he just sniffed it like that.. He tried to fix his eyes on the end of the corridor, but somehow it was like walking through a tunnel. The edges were blurred, he couldn't see anymore. He didn't know why, but suddenly he was scared for his life. He wanted to get out of there, but at the same time his body felt as if he would collapse any moment.. He staggered and stumbled into a wall and knowing that he couldn't go on anymore, he just let his body slide down and sink to the floor.

* * *

For a long time he sat there and tried to find the courage to stand up again. He knew he was of no use to anybody in a state like this, but he felt as if the cold stone floor was pulling him in. His eyes were burning and his throat was aching, but he still hadn't cried; maybe he knew that if he started crying, he'd probably never be able to stop. He had always been more of a father's than a mother's boy, but right in that moment he wanted nothing more than to be with her, his mother.

He pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes as he leaned back against the stone wall. His chest had stopped aching by now and slowly he started to regain control over his breathing again. He had no idea what had just happened to him and why he had crumbled down like this, but he knew he'd better get up before anybody saw him sitting here. Slowly he stood up and waited a second to make sure he was able to walk again as he heard voices at the end of the corridor. As quickly as he could he backed away into a little niche behind a bust of a young witch and tried to decipher what the voices were saying as they slowly came nearer.

"I feel mortified. That was the worst game ever. Harry will probably pass back out again, when he hears how bad we've played... " It was a girl's voice.. Draco wasn't entirely sure..

"I don't know if we should go up to the Hospital Wing. Ginny's really mad at me this time.." answered a deep male's voice. "She saw how I laughed when the Bludger hit Harry's head." The girl let out a disapproving sniff. "Yeah, I know. It just looked funny.. in a morbid way, I guess. But Ginny really freaked out after the game. You saw how she stormed out. And if she's up there with Harry now... I don't know, Jade, I just have a feeling that we are really done this time."

Draco groaned. He didn't want _her_ to see him like this, but his hiding-place wasn't exactly well-chosen. They would see him as soon as they passed. And so he quickly smoothed his hair back in place and stepped out into the corridor. Two red figures were making their way down the hallway; the boy with the deep voice was Dean Thomas, the Mudblood from his year. Of course... he was the boyfriend of the bloodtraitor Weasley.

"So I heard the Boy Who Scored fell off his broom." Draco sneered as he strolled into the direction of the two Gryffindors. "Or do you call him the Chosen Captain, now? I wouldn't know.."

Instantly Dean Thomas's face showed anger, while Jade only looked wary. Her eyes searched for his, but he kept his own firmly on the Mudblood. "Get lost, Malfoy!" the other boy grumbled.

They were only a few feet away from him now, as Draco set up his haughtiest smirk and pushed his hand down into the pocket of his robes, taking firm hold of his wand. He would show this boy that he couldn't boss him around like that.

"I'm not even talking to you, _Mudblood_." He said softly while looking at Dean with all the contempt that had built up inside him. And quickly the dark face contorted with rage as Dean took another quick step into his direction; but before he could even reach Draco, there was a jet of red light and he fell to the floor, stunned.

"What are you doing?" Jade quickly stepped up to where her teammate lay on the ground; she looked vexed as her face turned up towards Draco.

"What am _I_ doing? Why are _you_ doing alone with the Mudblood?" he spat back angrily. There was so much pain and hatred boiling inside him that seeing Jade alone with Thomas made him furious.

Instantly Jade's brown eyes narrowed. "Don't use that word!" she snarled back at him, but Draco only snorted disparagingly. For a moment neither of them spoke and then Jade said calmly. "We wanted to go up to visit Harry. He got injured.. as you've apparently already heard.."

Draco couldn't help but grimace. Sure, she would go see Potter.. Of course, she'd care about Potter, if he got 'injured'... A bloody Bludger to his head was all he got.. Big Deal.. Shouldn't _he_ be the one his girl cared for right now? Shouldn't she be by _his_ side? Bitterness started dripping into his mind like burning acid and he couldn't control the sudden rush of disappointment and anger, he felt. His eyes fell back down on Dean Thomas, who was still lying on the floor, unconscious. He didn't like him, not alone because he was a Mudblood, but also because he had watched the boy... he had watched him looking at Jade.

"He likes you." He said coldly.

"Who are you talking about?" Jade asked, sounding confused and a little worried.

"Him. The Mudblood. I've seen the way he looks at you. He fancies you."

Jade shook her head and her voice was very calm as she said "He doesn't. He's got a girlfriend."

"...as if that would stop them.." Draco answered darkly. Jade was still looking at him, probably waiting for a moment when he'd look back into her eyes. But he wouldn't.

"You already hexed him once, didn't you?" she asked "During Apparition Class, when he fell to the floor."

Draco remembered that. The Mudblood had been staring at her as she had bent over to adjust her loop on the floor. "He asked for it."

"You're being ridiculous." She said, as she got out her wand and moved forward to kneel down at Dean's side. "I'm waking him up now."

Quickly, Draco caught her arm in his hand and yanked her up again. He didn't want her to help the Mudblood, he wanted her to only care for him. Roughly, he pulled her with him, further down the corridor.

"Draco, no! Stop this! ... Let go of me!" she tried to pull away from him, but his grip only grew stronger. He didn't know what he was doing anymore, he had long lost control.

"Drop your Mudblood habit first!" he yelled at her.

"Stop saying that word!" Jade cried out angrily; her wand was still in her hand and Draco felt her arm twist inside his grip as she tried to manoeuvre the piece of wood in between them; he took hold of her wrist and twisted it backwards. A small whimper of pain escaped her lips, but in his fury Draco didn't hear it. So many emotions were cramped inside his mind, he didn't even know if it was jealousy, anger or pain that burned so brightly in his heart. But he knew that Jade could heal all of those feelings. Why didn't she heal him already?

His free hand caught the back of her head, tangled up in her hair and pulled her closer. She still struggled against him, but he was too strong for her. And as he pressed his face against the side of her head, she finally stayed still. "Please, Jade.." He inhaled her scent and slowly calmed down. She stayed silent, but as Draco moved his cheek against hers a moment later, he felt something wet. She was crying.

"If you don't let go of me right now, I swear I will never look at you again." Her voice was low and cold as she spoke and Draco quickly jumped back away from her. And as he looked down to his left hand and let go of her wrist, he realized that it didn't look alright anymore. He had twisted it too far.. His stomach clenched as he saw it. He never would have hurt her.. He never would do that.. How could he do this?

Jade slowly backed away and, without another word or look, she turned and kneeled down next to Dean. She took her wand in her left hand to perform the spell and only a second later Dean opened his eyes. Quickly, he sat up and looked from Jade to Draco and back again.

"Are you alright?" Draco could hear him whisper distantly. Jade shook her head. Draco wanted to die. "Come on, let's go." The dark boy said in his deep voice and as he stood up, he lay one of his arms protectively around the girl. Swiflty, they walked past Draco and made their way down the corridor together.

The tall blond boy turned and watched them. Everything inside him was shattering into even tinier pieces. Everything was broken. Everything destroyed. His eyes followed the girl he loved, the girl he had just hurt with his own hands and he couldn't control it anymore. He didn't intend to use his magic, but somehow it broke out of him and as Jade had reached the end of the corridor, one by one the windows that lined the walls imploded and shards of glass flew through the air and rained down upon the ground. Draco saw how Dean pulled Jade closer and shielded her face from the flying pieces of glass with his hand, before both of them turned the corner and vanished from view.


	42. Chapter 42

_A/N: I had some trouble writing this chapter. Initially I had written it completely in Draco's point of view, but somehow it didn't quite fit to what happens at the end of it. So I wrote many different versions, eventually coming to this. I hope you like it. I don't think, I'll write more chapters from Blaise's point of view, but I thought this time, he'll bring everything together. I hope you enjoy and leave me your thoughts please :)_

* * *

_Blaise's Point of View - The Morning of The Quidditch Match_

"Why do I have to go and watch the game, again?" Daphne whined as she picked around moodily on her breakfast plate.

"Because," Blaise heard Pansy say on the seat to his left "you can't spend all day in a dark dungeon. That's the first break-up rule: Never mope around in dreary dungeons!" She said with a grin and bit into her croissant as Daphne's face dropped even further; there simply were no ifs and buts, when Pansy wanted to have it her way. Blaise furrowed his brow as he let his gaze wander through the Great Hall; it was a mass of red and yellow and the sun already shone brightly through the bewitched ceiling above them. Blaise had been slightly nervous, even after Malfoy had told him that the imbeciles around Urquhart wouldn't go after Jade anymore. But still he wanted to see her with his own eyes and make sure she was alright.

He was sipping on his tea as he realized that a few seats down the table, Malfoy got up. Quickly, Crabbe and Goyle scrambled up as well and followed the blond boy like two large, distorted shadows. Blaise was sure that they wouldn't watch the game today. Malfoy would probably be back at doing whatever it was, he did. Blaise longed to know what he was working on, but Jade wouldn't tell him anything about it. Maybe because she knew that he would be angry again.. or because she didn't even know too much about it herself..

A sudden jeering and applause from the Gryffindor table stirred him up from his thoughts and his eyes shot up to see that Potter had appeared in the Great Hall, closely followed by Granger and Jade, who was smiling a little nervously. The two players were both wearing their red uniforms and as they made their way along the table many of their fellow housemates stood up to give their Captain a quick pat on the back and wish them Good Luck. For a short moment Jade's eyes met his and her smile told him that everything was fine. He was rather surprised though as he saw the youngest Weasley spawn, who was already sitting at the table, grabbing Jade's hand, as the girl had reached her, and pulling her down to sit next to her. He raised a brow as he saw the two girls smiling brightly at each other; the last time he had checked they had tried to hang each other from the goal hoops.. He had a vague idea how they had become close friends again.

Twenty minutes later, when the mass of students was leaving the castle through the Entrance Hall, he was staying behind, leaning against the banister of the large marble staircase and waiting for Jade to pass. A few Gryffindor players were leaving the Great Hall now, Blaise remembered them to be the Beaters, and in the group of friends around them, a pretty blonde girl was smiling and chatting to her housemates. For the fraction of a moment their eyes met, the smile did not leave her lips and then she looked away again. His dark eyes followed her until she was out of sight. Sometimes he could still curse himself for ruining his chances with her. Somehow every time he liked a girl, it ended in a disaster; he just had a talent for really messing it up badly, before it had even started yet.

Right in that moment Jade and the Weasley girl stepped into the Entrance Hall and Blaise quickly pushed into the throng of students.

"Good luck in the game, kid." He said as he was right behind her and she turned around to smile at him, making her hair, that was up in a high ponytail, whip around her shoulder.

"Thanks, Blaise. I have a feeling we'll need it more than ever today."

All the way down to the Pitch the two girls talked about the weather conditions, the weaknesses of the other team and their own strategy, but Blaise's mind had trailed off and his eyes were still lingering in the distance, where untamed blonde curls had blended into the mass of red and gold.

* * *

As soon as they had reached the stadium, Blaise left to find Pansy and the others in their usual stand. It took him some time until he had made it up the many stairs, but finally he could see them sitting up in the last row. Unfortunately Pansy and Daphne weren't alone anymore; for a split second he considered sitting with some seven-years, but the girls were already waving at him and calling him over. He cursed under his breath and made up his way to where the three of them were sitting. Just what he needed today: watching a Quidditch game with Pansy, Daphne and Astoria. His ears would start bleeding in less than two minutes.

He only nodded curtly as he sat down next to Astoria, who returned a bright smile and turned around again to resume consoling her elder sister. Blaise knew that Daphne had broken up with her boyfriend just yesterday and so, while she was still praying that her ex wouldn't turn up to watch the game today, Blaise found himself sitting right next to his ex. And he found it more than uncomfortable.

Astoria was one of those girls, who charmed you at first, with their pretty smiles and a liveliness that appeared to be fascinating. But as soon as they got you, they ripped your head off and fed it to a blast-ended skrewt... literally. She was the personification of evilness.. a black widow.. Blaise could already picture himself hanging limply in her web again as he watched her out of the corner of his eyes. She seemed so harmless with her soft blond hair and her fine and slender face, but she could transform into a fury faster than you could blink. It had been kind of scary at times.. and it had driven him away very fast. But still they had been very close in some ways, so it was bound to feel awkward now.

The game still hadn't started yet and Blaise watched how the stands slowly got fuller as more and more students were taking their seats, while the girls next to him kept on chatting.

"Being single isn't even that bad, Daphne." Pansy was saying. "You can do whatever you want and have to answer to no one. You can date around. You can drool after hot Quidditch Players if you want to!"

"For that, I think" Astoria chirped in "we picked the wrong game. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor? No hot guys on the pitch today! Well, unless you have a thing for Potter.."

Pansy's mouth twisted in distaste. "I think you're right... Merlin, without them this entire game seems so pointless.."

"Well, I heard Summerby grew up nicely..." Daphne said silently and instantly Pansy grinned again and patted Daphne's hair. "Good girl!" she cooed.

Astoria giggled a little and then she asked "So how are you, Pansy? Are you seeing anybody special? What happened with Draco? It seems as if you two have been fighting...?"

Blaise turned to see the joyful glint leave Pansy's eyes; she shot him a quick glance. Although everyone knew of their fight, nobody knew the real reason for it. Pansy had asked Blaise to keep it a secret from their friends and even though it was something he wouldn't do for Malfoy, he had done it for her.

"I don't really know." Pansy said after a moment. "I've waited so long for him, gave him so many chances.. And the moment I started going out with other boys, because I didn't want to wait anymore, everything changed. As a person, he still treated me like a friend; but as a woman, he treats me as if I was the most horrible slag. I mean, yes, I like to kiss handsome boys and, okay, maybe I do that quite often lately. But it's not as if I'm sleeping with all of them..." Blaise could see pain in Pansy's eyes as she spoke and he didn't know what it was, but something was telling him that there was a truth about Pansy, none of her friends had been seeing. She always had told great stories about her many lovers; stories that had almost been a little too great. Could it be...?

Again Pansy's dark green eyes flicked over to him and they betrayed her. Blaise couldn't deny that he was surprised. Pansy definitely hadn't slept with any of those guys, she had just been bragging like she always did. Blaise had to smirk; apparently the worst Slytherin girl of them all was the most innocent at the same time.

By now she had gone on with her talk about Malfoy and concluded sadly ".. so I guess, it just wasn't meant to be." Astoria nodded understandingly, while Daphne tried to wipe a tear from her eye as inconspicuously as possible.

* * *

Suddenly the blow of a whistle ripped through the loud chattering and cheering in the stadium and the students fell silent. The game was about to begin.

Pansy opened her bag and got out four bottles of butterbeer, handing them to her friends. With another alarmingly-bright smile, Astoria passed over a bottle to Blaise and their hands touched for a second; he could swear he felt the spider's web between her fingers. His instincts told him to get the hell away from here, before she started poisoning him again.

He turned his eyes down to the pitch and saw how the players got onto their brooms; a second later they were up in the air.

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle," a dreamy voice carried over from the commentator's podium. "What the...?" Astoria voiced Blaise's thoughts exactly as all of their eyes turned to see Loony Lovegood sitting next to a slightly uncomfortable-looking Professor McGonagall. "Have they gone mental to let her commentate?" shrieked Pansy.

Blaise merely groaned; this morning just couldn't get any worse. And so as the girls next to him started with their unbearably-pathetic girl talk again and Loony Lovegood pointed out a Crumple-Horned Snorkack-shaped cloud in the sky, Blaise tried his best to keep it together and just concentrate on the game. Jade was doing alright and it never failed to impress him how much small girls like Jade or Weasley could actually take without being knocked off from their brooms. But today the game was played by the rules anyway; Hufflepuff always were fair players.. He started regretting coming here even more.

"So what about Harper? I heard his family made a lot of galleons overseas.." Blaise heard Pansy say as he checked if they were still talking about boys.

"I don't think I want to date anymore Slytherins. They're all the same." answered Daphne. Blaise was just about to direct his full attention back on the game again, when Astoria said something that made him perk up his ears.

"Well, in that case.. What about that Michael Corner guy? I heard he was single again."

"Really?" Pansy asked quickly, excited about that new piece of gossip. "Well, that was fast, wasn't it? How long had he been dating her? A month?"

Astoria nodded. "I heard he broke up with her, because the only thing she let him do was holding hands. A real prude... So maybe you'll really have a chance D, after a month-long dry-spell." She giggled.

"Well, isn't that sweet of you." Daphne shot back with a dirty glance at her younger sister. "But he does like really pretty girls, doesn't he? Cho Chang, Ginny Weasley, Chloé van whatever-it-was..."

"Oh please! They are not that pretty!" Pansy instantly protested "Chang only looks good from really far away and Weasley looks like one of her many ugly brothers if you chop off that nasty red hair. And that Chloé girl... Merlin, I even hate her name... 'Chloé'.. what a stupid name."

"Totally!" Astoria nodded in consent.

Blaise, who hadn't even been listening to the last part of their conversation, stood up abruptly. "I'll be right back." He said silently and then he turned to leave the Slytherin stand.

So she was single again.. And this time he wouldn't hesitate one little moment. All of his hesitation and doubt was the real reason, why she still wasn't talking to him. He had waited for too long after Christmas and had thereby given that vulture Corner the chance to ask her out. He knew he had always been waiting for that perfect moment and right now it was possibly far from perfect, but maybe he could still make it right. And maybe if he approached her up on the Gryffindor stand in the middle of the game, it would even show her that he really meant what he had said and that he didn't care about her blood or her status. And after all, he was only asking her for a second chance at friendship.. nothing more.

Quickly, he jogged down the stairs of the Slytherin stand and up again to where the Gryffindors were cheering for their team. The stand was jam-packed with excited students of all ages and nobody was really taking any notice of him as he pushed his way through. He had seen her standing in the front row with her back to him and both of her hands on the railing; a Gryffindor scarf was wrapped around her neck. Smoothly, he made his way past her housemates and as if she could sense that he had been coming, she turned around and caught his eye. A small smile appeared on her lips and it instantly gave him the courage to get closer.

"Did you get lost?" she asked as the smile lit up her eyes as well. Blaise got even closer now; he shook his head. "It just took me a really long time to get here."

Her smile did not vanish. "Do you want to stay and watch the game with me?"

Blaise looked down at her. This was his second chance. She gave it so freely to him; without the need for any words or further explanations and he could see that she had truly forgiven him. Her blue eyes still rested on his face for a moment, before she turned back around to watch the game. "It's not looking too good for us right now." She said.

"What's the score?" he asked, he hadn't even bothered to pick up on that.

"I think it's 70 to 30 for Hufflepuff. But I'm not entirely sure. I like Luna, but it's a bit of a challenge to follow her commentary."

Blaise let out a laugh at this severe understatement as Hufflepuff scored another goal and Chloé let out a little moan. Next to her, the Irish guy from Blaise's year started jumping up and down agitatedly and was waving his arms wildly in the air. "Just knock him off his broom, Dean!" he shouted and pulled back his arms. In his mind Blaise could already see the boy's elbow colliding forcefully with the side of Chloé's head and so, before it could happen, he swiftly stepped in between, turned the girl in his arms and took the blow for her. Instead of her head, Finnigan hit Blaise's shoulder, muttered a quick "Sorry, mate." without looking and went on shouting encouragements at his friend. With an annoyed expression, Blaise put his hand to rest on the railing between Chloé and the shouting Irishman. She turned and was just opening her mouth to say something, when Loony Lovegood's cry caught their attention.

"Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beater's bats."

What? Either Loony had really gone loony now or... she was right. That complete troll McLaggen really was holding a Beater's bat.

"Oh my God!" Chloé clapped one of her hands over her mouth as screams of terror sounded throughout the stadium. McLaggen had taken a ferocious swipe at the Bludger, but he hadn't hit it properly and it missed its target. Potter, the unlucky bastard, had just turned to fly into the direction of his Keeper when it happened and with a sickening crack the Bludger hit him full-frontally against the forehead. That would definitely suffice for more than a little lightning bolt scar...

Immediately the Gryffindor Chasers and Beaters shot forwards on their brooms to catch their unconscious Captain, whose skull was broken in a disturbingly clear manner.

"Oh Lord!" Chloé turned around now to face Blaise; her eyes looked scared. "I can't look at this!"

Now a relieved sigh ran through the stadium, the Beaters had caught Potter. A split-second later Jade was by their side, taking hold of the broomstick that had been spinning out of control.

"They got him." He mumbled down to Chloé, who was still not daring to watch.

"But his head?"

"Just a cracked skull, I guess. Nothing to worry about." He turned his eyes down and smiled at her. "You get scared pretty easily for a Gryffindor."

She blushed a little. "There are different kinds of bravery." She said shyly. "Harry is going to be alright, isn't he?"

Blaise nodded reassuringly. "You can look now. They are carrying him off the pitch."

But Chloé still didn't turn around. The entire Gryffindor team was in an uproar by now, shouting insults at McLaggen and a few girls from Potter's fan club were even sobbing into their Gryffindor scarves.. How pathetic.

The rest of the game was even more gruesome to watch than seeing Potter's head shatter into pieces. The Weaselette was playing Seeker now and another girl had filled in the empty Chaser position. But without their Captain and with a moronic Keeper the team was lost and Blaise could see Jade bury her pretty face in her hands after Hufflepuff's tenth goal.

Chloé was watching the game again. She had leaned forward against the railing, propped up by her elbows right next to where Blaise was resting his right hand. And he hadn't expected it, but somewhere in between Hufflepuff's thirteenth and fourteenth goal, he felt slender fingers grazing the back of his hand. Slowly her fingers started playing with his and he stayed still, feeling how she traced little figures on the back of his hand. After a moment he turned his palm upwards and after she had laid her hand into his, he closed it around hers. He had never thought it would be so easy. And he had no idea what Corner's deal was; holding hands with this girl was pretty amazing actually.

They stayed like this as the game wore on and it wasn't until Hufflepuff was leading with 170 to 60 that Chloé turned around again. "I can't watch this anymore. This is dreadful." She sighed.

"You might not have to," Blaise said as he looked over the top of her head "I think the Hufflepuff Seeker saw something."

And he was right. Both Seekers suddenly started to go into a dive and they were neck on neck for a second, before the Hufflepuff finally caught the Snitch and ended the game. The Hufflepuff curve cried out in joy as a groan went through the Gryffindor stand. Blaise could see how Jade landed on the ground roughly, tossed her broom aside angrily and then turned to storm at McLaggen, who was about two heads taller than she was and weirdly enough carrying a Beater's bat again. But she was quickly joined by the rest of the team and as the students slowly left the stands, Chloé and Blaise lagged behind.

Everyone else had already left as Chloé slowly walked over to the bench in the first row and sat down; Blaise stayed where he was, leaning backwards against the railing and watching her. The sun, that had been so bright for the entire game, was still shining, but a few patchy clouds were strewn over the sky by now.

"So," Chloé said, after a moment where they had been watching the stream of students making their way up to the castle. "What have you been up to?"

* * *

It wasn't until an hour later that sudden rain clouds threatened them to move inside the castle. They had been talking for the entire time; not about them or about what had happened, but just about trivial things. She was easy to talk to and she did talk rather a lot; it wasn't so much as that it was annoying, but Blaise couldn't help but see similarities between Chloé and Astoria. He really didn't want to see them, but at the same time it was as if he was searching for them. As if they were signs that would betray her and show her real intentions. He cursed himself in his mind for doing that, but at the same time he couldn't stop. And as the sky above them turned into a dark grey, they made their way up to the castle as well. The sky opened its gates and the rain started to fall as they ran the last few yards up the stone steps and into the castle.

As soon as they were inside, he pulled out his wand to dry their clothes as Chloé leaned backwards against the wall next to the marble staircase; she was a little out of breath and her hair had turned even curlier in the rain. He smiled as he caught sight of a little peek of green. "You have something in your hair." He mumbled and leaned in to pick it out. She stayed very still as Blaise came closer and pulled something out of her messy curls. It was the small blossom of a tree; he twirled it in between his fingers as he looked down into her face and their eyes met again.

"Zabini!"

Blaise turned around. It was the Gryffindor Chaser, Dean Thomas. He looked worried and was still wearing his Quidditch robes. "Man, I looked for you everywhere! Jade is up in the Hospital Wing. We got into a fight with Malfoy after the game. He stunned me, so I don't know what happened and what he did to her. But she was hurt and now she just won't stop crying."

A faint horror spread in his body as he pictured what had happened. And he let his arm drop to his side as the small blossom fell to the floor. He needed to go to the Hospital Wing right now. Without another word, he turned and started up the marble staircase, taking two steps at a time. The other two followed quickly.

"I've never seen her like that." Dean added, as they made their way through the different hallways. "I thought you might be able to calm her down. You're probably the only one, she'll listen to."

Blaise only nodded. His mind was full of worry. He didn't want Jade to be broken again. And even though he hated Malfoy, he prayed that the bastard had not done anything stupid again. "How did he hurt her?" he asked as they rounded another corner.

"I don't really know, but she had a small fracture in her wrist. Pomfrey healed it already. I don't think that was what's upset her; she's pretty pain-resistant actually. Can take a Bludger straight into her stomach without shedding a single tear. That's why it's so strange to see her crying like that."

That bastard had really assaulted her _physically_? _Broken her wrist_? Blaise fastened up his steps; behind him Chloé had to start jogging to keep up the pace. But there was only one thought on his mind now: He would kill Malfoy. He would kill him.

Finally he threw the large doors to the infirmary open. It was uncommonly crowded in there as the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team was gathered around Potter's bed, whose occupant was still unconscious as Madam Pomfrey arranged a Quirrel-esque turban of bandages around his head.

"_Blaise!_" he heard a voice cry out his name and turned to see Jade sitting on a bed to his left. Her dark eyes looked glazed from all the crying and her face was unusually pale; her right hand was sitting on her lap and it was neatly wrapped in a small bandage. She stood up now and walked into his direction and with each step she took, her face looked more as if she was about to cry again. She was biting down on her lip and taking heaving breaths as she fastened up her steps as if she wanted to throw herself into his arms. But then she stopped and froze. Chloé had just stepped into the Hospital Wing right behind him.

A little "Hi" escaped Jade's lips as she stood there and her eyes fell to the ground. Something was very, very wrong with her. Blaise had never seen her looking so lost. Her lower lip quivered as her eyes turned back to him and then she turned around and hid her face in her hands. It only took him two steps and he was by her side, resting his hand on the small of her back as he rounded her and saw a few tears spill through her fingers.

"Jade, what happened?" he gently urged her to explain. But she didn't answer; slowly she let her hands drop from her face again. Her eyes looked up at him and she snuffled a little as she whispered "Blaise, can we please go outside? Can you take me in your arms?"

She looked so pitiful as she spoke that Blaise's heart hurt a little. He put his hands down onto her shoulders. "Why outside?"

"I don't want her to think.." Jade began silently, but never finished her sentence. Blaise had already pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She let him and buried her face in the fabric of his robes as she clung onto him. The moment he had her in his arms, she started sobbing; he could tell that she was trying to stay silent, but he had never heard her cry like that. The sobs shook her body as he held her and she took gasping breaths in between. It disturbed Blaise to see her like that.. as if she was in some state of shock.

He rocked her gently from side to side and started stroking her hair to try and calm her down. He knew that Chloé was probably watching them, but he didn't care. Jade was his best friend. She was his family and nothing was more important than that. And he would never even feel the need to justify that in front of anyone.

He still wanted to know what exactly had happened, why Malfoy had attacked her and what their fight had been about, but she did not appear to be able to talk right now. And so he just hugged her, one arm around her small frame and his other hand resting against the side of her head, holding her to him protectively. He probably hated nothing more than to see her going through pain again.

"My little girl.." he whispered and leaned down a little to kiss the top of her head. She cried even harder. This wasn't healthy anymore. This whole relationship between the two of them wasn't healthy anymore. It slowly destroyed her and now Malfoy really had started abusing her. The thought made Blaise's blood boil. He hated the fact that he couldn't do anything to make Jade see that this was ruining her. She loved the boy to death, she really did. And Blaise knew that he couldn't do anything to change it. But still he wondered how this could have happened. Back in February he had made sure that Malfoy wasn't playing around with her again; he had spiked his morning juice with some Veritaserum and later had asked Malfoy one simple question. And after that morning he had been sure that whatever it was, the two of them shared, it really was incredibly strong. A real love, from both sides. But if you loved someone, you wouldn't hurt them like that, would you? What on earth was wrong with Malfoy? !

His thoughts slowly got darker and darker. Every single relationship, he had ever witnessed, had failed. His mother had gone through seven husbands; all of them had died! His own father had died! His own father... because he had fallen in love with a woman. And even in a case, where the love was mutual, like with Jade, it still wasn't enough. He had never seen her crying until she had gotten to know Malfoy. She had gone through so much pain, on her free will. But how could all that be worth it? So much shit just for two seconds of happiness? This wasn't worth it to him. Definitely not. He was better off alone.

It took a long time, but finally he could feel her breathing getting steadier as the sobs got fewer.

"We got into a fight." She whispered now, her voice was very feeble. "A real fight. He grabbed me, pulled me with him. He hurt me." For a second Blaise feared she would start crying again. It was clear that the fact that he had hurt her like this was unsettling her so much. His eyes wandered down to the little bandage that was around her wrist. Malfoy had yanked her around so hard that he had broken her wrist? Or maybe he had twisted it? Merlin, that boy was really sick.

For a moment both of them stayed silent. It appeared as if Jade was fighting to calm down again as Blaise thought about what he was going to do now. He still wanted to murder Malfoy; hurting a girl was just way out of line. No matter how it had happened.

After a moment she spoke again "Blaise, I need to find him."

"What?" he quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her away a little so he could see her face.

"Something happened." She said in a high voice. "I know that something happened. He was hurting. I saw it in his eyes. I need to go and look for him. Please, come with me. Please."

"Jade, no." He shook his head. "You're not going back to look for him."

"But Blaise.. he didn't know what he was doing. He.."

"Just stop defending him. Please, Jade. Look at you. You're a mess. He broke your wrist. How can you still be defending him? It's not like he's a dog that bit you because it was scared. He was aware of what he did."

The tears were gone from her face now and as his eyes searched hers, he could see that in all her pain, she still was bloody determined. Her jaw was set and he could see how she raised her chin a little higher. There was no use for any argumentation, when she was looking like that. "Fine." He said. "But I won't let you go look for him. I'll go look for him myself."

"Promise me you won't fight." She looked up at him and she could probably see in his eyes, what he had had in mind, when telling her he would look for Malfoy. Jade shook her head. "No, Blaise." She said slowly. "You have to promise me. Don't fight with him."

Blaise only grimaced. "I'm serious," she said. "Just make sure that he's alright. I'm afraid he'll do something stupid.. You know what he hides from everyone.. I never ask anything of you, Blaise. Please, just this one thing."

Her eyes were searching his soul and Blaise felt his own head nod. "Okay."

"Thank you." She breathed. Blaise could see that she had regained control over herself again. The fact that he was going to look after Malfoy apparently calmed her down a great deal. She probably was scared for the idiot, but at the same time too scared to go look after him herself. She took a step backwards and put a little more distance in between them. "We ran into him in that little hallway, a floor below. The one with the small bust of Morgana..."

Blaise nodded and patted her hair one last time. "Don't worry, kid. I'll find him. And I won't murder him. It's the best that I can do." Slowly he pulled his hand back and Jade caught it in mid-air, gave it a small squeeze and let go again. Blaise thought he could see the ghost of a smile on her face as he turned around to leave the Hospital Wing.

Before he left he asked Dean to bring Jade up to her Tower safely and the boy quickly complied. Then his eyes fell back onto Chloé and suddenly he wanted to get far, far away from that girl. He had just seen first-hand what could happen when someone fell in love. It was a disaster. It really was. He didn't want this. If a person could ruin you, like Malfoy was ruining Jade, then love wasn't something to be desired. It was something you should fear. He should get rid of her.

Quickly, he passed her and left the Hospital Wing, noticing how she clung to his heel.

"What happened? Is she alright?" Chloé asked as she hurried down the corridor behind him.

Blaise didn't answer her question. "I need to take care of something." He said.

"I could accompany you if you want my help." She offered in an annoyingly kind way.

Blaise stopped for a second and turned around towards her again. "Do you want me to walk you up to your Tower?"

Chloé looked flabbergasted. "I..No... " She shook her head.

He nodded and turned around again. "Alright."

"Blaise, wait a moment. I'm really worried right now. Can't you tell me what happened?"

"It doesn't concern you. Just go back to your Common Room.." he rebuffed her coldly; then he added "See you around."

Chloé stopped in her tracks; apparently this had already sufficed to make her leave him alone. But then her voice carried through the hallway. "You change when you're around her."

Again, Blaise turned around to face her. He sighed; so Chloé wouldn't make it that easy for him. He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to speak again.

"It's like a mask comes off and shows who you really are. You always wear it; even when you're with me. It's a friendly mask, but it's a mask nevertheless."

"Is that really necessary right now?" he sighed, his face bearing the faint traces of annoyance.

Chloé shook her head again, looking stunned. "You do this every time. Every time! You pull me in and then you push me away again. What does it take, Blaise, for you to let your guard down?"

"I don't pull... I didn't... It wasn't _me_ who started playing with your hand up on the stands." He finally spat.

She just shook her head, disbelievingly. "Have a great day, Blaise!" and then she turned and walked away. Somewhere deep inside him there was a pang of guilt and a repressed awareness that he had just messed up everything beyond repair. But to hell with it.. He didn't want this anyway..

* * *

It did not take him a long time to find the corridor, Jade had described to him. The sky outside was even darker by now and the chandeliers, which were lining the walls, were not yet burning as he set his foot into the hallway. Something crunched underneath his heel. He looked down and saw that it were pieces of glass; they were littering the floor. And as he turned his eyes up again, he noticed that the windows of the corridor were all broken, enabling the rain to pour inside the castle. His gaze wandered down the corridor as he moved on and only a small distance away he could see a figure on the ground. There he was, sitting with his back to the wall on the floor. His legs were bent and his head tilted back, resting against the old stone wall as if he was staring into the sky. It wasn't until Blaise stood right next to him that he turned his blond head to the side. Blaise couldn't deny that it shocked him somewhat as he looked into Malfoy's face. There was a huge gash, which ran vertically across his lips, and dried blood was still smeared onto his chin. His eyes were empty, he looked lifeless. And if Blaise had thought that seeing Jade cry had been disturbing, Malfoy definitely delivered a whole new definition of 'disturbing' in that very moment. The blond boy let his arms drop to the floor now and raised his chin a little, as if he was beckoning Blaise to do whatever he thought was necessary right now. He was clearly under the impression that Blaise had come to finish him off.

The dark boy shook his head; Malfoy raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly. And then Blaise did something that surprised both of them: he held out his hand. For a second the grey eyes just stared at it as if Malfoy was considering whether to take it or keep sitting here for the rest of his life. But then he reached out his hand, they caught each other around their wrists and Blaise pulled him up to stand next to him.

"She wanted me to make sure you were alright." Blaise said in his deep, smooth voice. Something flickered through Malfoy's eyes now; he pressed his lips together and turned his face to the side. For a moment Blaise feared that the boy was about to cry and so he looked away quickly, to leave him his last shred of dignity. But he didn't cry; it took him a moment and then he followed Blaise out of the corridor.

"Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing?" Blaise asked him. "You're face looks pretty bad." Malfoy just shook his head. Blaise didn't care anyway and if it wasn't a cursed wound, you could still fade the scar completely at a later time. Without saying another word to each other, they walked along the corridors of the castle and down to the dungeons.

* * *

_Draco's Point of View_

During the next weeks Draco felt as if he was dead. He kept himself locked up in the Room of Requirement, working day and night to keep his mind from spiralling down into the dark again. Sometimes he felt as if he was being followed and twice he thought he heard someone on the other side of the door. But maybe he was just starting to get insane. By now all the anger, which had built up inside him, had vanished and had made room for a giant hole.

He had seen Jade a few times within the castle, but he had never dared to approach her. She had looked at him and the sadness in her eyes had made him feel even more ashamed. He was missing her terribly, but at the same time he didn't feel able to talk to her yet.

He knew that he needed to explain to her what really had happened and what had made him act the way, he had. But right now his wounds were too fresh. If he had to talk about how they had tortured his mother.. The memory alone still shook him to his bones. He dreamt of her screams every night and nothing could ease his pain. Not even her letters from home, she had written him since, declaring again and again that she was fine and that nothing had happened to her. That he shouldn't worry about her... As if he still was naive enough to believe that.

He knew in a way that he needed Jade and that he needed to talk to someone about it, but he was so ashamed. Ashamed of what he had done and of what he would do, if he ever had to talk about this. What would Jade think if he broke down in tears in front of her? She would pity him, wouldn't she? And console him.. ease his pain. And he would feel even weaker than he already did. He was a coward and then Jade would see it, too. And maybe she wouldn't love him anymore. Maybe she would choose one of the heroes instead.. Potter or another bloody Gryffindor, who probably never got scared in his life before.. and who didn't cry like a child, because his mother got hurt. Boys weren't supposed to cry... Malfoys weren't supposed to..

But eventually, he did. And for the second time he let his guard down in front of the only being, he could ever accept to see him like this. It was pathetic and he knew it, but in some weird way the ghost could be there for him when no other living person could. Maybe it was because he didn't let them.. But Myrtle wouldn't tell and she wouldn't judge, she just listened.

And so he came back to visit her on a rainy afternoon in the middle of April. The entire day he had felt like crumbling down again. The stupid Cabinet still didn't work, as did nothing in his blasted life. And so he stood inside a boys' bathroom on sixth floor, his hands clutching either side of the sink and his head bowed.

"Don't.. Don't.. tell me what's wrong.. I can help you... " Myrtle tried to comfort him as he cried.

"No one can help me, I can't do it.. I can't.. it won't work.. and unless I do it soon.. he says he'll kill me.." his words made it only worse and he felt the tears streaming down his face as desperation gnawed at his heart. He let out a gasp and a shudder ran down his spine as he tilted his head back up again to look into his reflection in the cracked mirror. And then he froze. Someone had been watching him. It was Potter.


	43. Chapter 43

_A/N: Thank you for all the feedback on the last chapter. I'm sorry I left you hanging with a little cliffie... It wasn't a real one, though.. We all know what happened then.. I did my best to update as soon as I could.. Leave me your reviews as a little reward ;-)_

* * *

The rain, which was pattering down onto the roof, was the only sound that could be heard inside the library; everything else was oppressively silent. It was this unique library silence that dared you to raise your voice or turn a page of your book just a little too loudly. Jade sat in the last corner of the large hall, in a group of seventh years, all in very deep concentration. Their first theoretical N.E.W.T. exam was in exactly one week and slowly everyone started to get nervous. Jade had been sitting there for hours, scribbling down notes as she read in a copy of '_Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration_'; right next to her sat Katie, who had finally returned to school, and was still brooding over Jade's notes from all the classes, she had missed during her absence, with a strained expression on her face. Jade was happy to have her roommate back; she had missed Katie more than she had expected.

A few minutes later she sighed and sank back in her chair; it was probably time to take a little break or her head might just explode. Her eyes fell on the person to her left; Blaise was probably the only sixth-year that was allowed to sit here at the moment. It was an unspoken agreement that this part of the library, right at the end, where it was quiet and calm, was reserved for the seventh-years to study for their exams. But still, Blaise was tolerated. He was leaning over his homework, his quill in hand, and his eyes slightly narrowed. Ever since the game against Hufflepuff, the two of them had practically been inseparable. Their friendship had grown stronger than ever. It meant a lot to her that he had been right there, when she had needed him the most. And that he had gone to look after Draco against his own better judgement. He had only done it for her.

The one thing, she still was wondering about though, was what had happened with Chloé. Blaise didn't talk about it; he had only told her that he didn't want to see the girl anymore. It hadn't quite convinced Jade, but he was not very elaborate on the matter. Initially, she had been a little afraid that it had been her, sobbing all over the place and clinging onto him like that, that had scared the girl away. But no, apparently their friendship hadn't been an issue. Whatever it was, Jade didn't push him to tell. It was his business and she knew by now how complicated Blaise's mind was, when it came to girls. He would figure everything out by himself, eventually.

Slowly she leaned closer towards him now. "Blaise, I need to take a break. You're coming with me? A small round about the castle?" she whispered, almost inaudibly.

Blaise shook his head and motioned towards the parchment in front of him. "I'm almost done here. Maybe you'd ask Katie, she looks like she needs to get some fresh air." He mumbled back to her.

Jade nodded and turned her head to the other side. "Katie..." Immediately, the other girl jumped up. "Thank Merlin, you finally give me an excuse to leave this place." She said. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Jade laughed as she stood up, too, and with a small smile towards Blaise, she turned and followed Katie.

* * *

As Jade made her way out of the library, she walked by another set of familiar faces and what she saw, made her smile. Hermione and Ron were sitting at a table together; his face was scrunched up in concentration as he looked down onto his parchment, Hermione was peering over his shoulder and smiled in an affectionate way. Then she took his quill out of his hand and corrected something for him. A lot had changed during those last few weeks. Right after Ron had returned from the Hospital Wing, the two of them had reconciled, which eventually had let into Lavender giving Ron the boot. Which again, had resulted in Hermione being happier than she had been all year. It was great to see the two of them together again, even just as friends.

But Ron and Lavender weren't the only couple that had broken up that day. Finally, the inevitable happened and Ginny and Dean had split after two weeks of non-stop fighting. Jade had seen the look in Harry's eyes, when he had heard, and was sure that it would not take too long for the two of them to finally find each other.

Harry himself had been busy with something entirely different all these weeks. On the one hand, he had followed Draco around with the help of Dobby and Kreacher and on the other, he had been working on getting this certain memory from Professor Slughorn, Dumbledore had asked for. And finally, on the day of Jade's Apparition test, he had succeeded. The memory revealed an appalling truth. Even Jade had never heard of Horcruxes before Harry had told her about it; it was an idea, so morbid and sick, even the darkest wizards had shied away from it. The costs of making yourself immortal by ripping your soul into pieces were too high. But You-Know-Who had done it.. six times... seven pieces. Jade remembered all the items Dumbledore had mentioned to Harry: the old diary, already destroyed, Gaunt's ring, destroyed as well, the snake Nagini, the Slytherin locket, the Hufflepuff cup, an item from another founder of Hogwarts and the last remaining piece in his body. To hunt all those pieces down would be an enormous task. And Jade knew it would be Harry's eventually. The whole point of these classes with Dumbledore was to teach Harry how to find the Horcruxes and Jade hoped desperately that Dumbledore knew more than he had revealed just yet.

But all of this hadn't been enough to distract her mind completely from the one person, she always kept coming back to in her thoughts. She wasn't sure where Draco and she stood right now. She thought by sending Blaise, she had shown him that she wasn't still mad at him. But Draco hadn't approached her since. Not to apologize and neither to talk to her. She had feared that he had started avoiding her again, but the few times they had met within the castle, he had looked into her eyes. And in those moments, Jade thought she understood, what was going on. He was using Occlumency again.

She knew that something had happened to him and even though she didn't know what exactly, by now she was sure that it was horrible enough to make him act like he had. Back when it had happened, when he had yanked her around like that, his actions and the look on his face had scared her so much that she hadn't been able to think. She really could say that he had scared her more than anything ever had. And in that moment all she had felt was pain and fear and it had made her unable to just look at him and see what was really going on.

But then again, he didn't want to tell her either. It wasn't the first time that he kept things to himself, anyway. He often made it difficult for the world to understand what he was thinking, feeling or who he even was. He was similar to Blaise, but different at the same time. Blaise had an issue with trust, but Jade was sure that Draco did not act like this because he didn't trust her, she knew he did. More often than not, the real reason, for why he didn't talk to her about what was going on, was, because he was afraid that she might not be able to take it.

* * *

By now Jade had left the library; silently she closed the door behind her and made her way through the corridors with Katie. Quickly the girls agreed to make a short trip to the Gryffindor Tower and they were just rounding a corner, when they caught sight of a wild-looking Harry, sprinting down the corridor. His robes were clinging onto his legs, soaked with water and something that looked like.. _blood_? The moment he caught sight of Jade, he ran towards her and grabbed her by her arms, pulling her to the side. He was panting heavily as he spoke.

"Jade... Malfoy.. Something's happened.. I ripped him apart.. the Sectumsempra spell from the Prince's book... He's in the Hospital Wing.. I'll explain later." And then he ran away as if the Dark Lord himself was hot on his heels. His words slowly sank into Jade's mind, making her feel sick. The Sectumsempra spell.. _ripped him apart? ? ?  
_

Her face turned white as a sheet as she looked towards Katie, who hadn't understood what Harry had been saying. "What was that about?" she asked Jade.

"I.. I don't know... I'm sorry, Katie, I have to go." And with those words Jade ran off.

She had no idea what Harry had meant with his words and what the Sectumsempra spell had done to Draco. But Harry had been drenched in blood, hadn't he? A lump started forming in Jade's throat. What if something had happened to Draco? Something that couldn't be mended with a swirl of Madam Pomfrey's wand? She started running faster, anxiety taking hold of her mind.

As she stormed through the doors of the Hospital Wing a few minutes later, she was still in a state of shock. She saw Madam Pomfrey emerging from behind a screen, which had been put around one of the beds; she looked a little uneasy. As she caught sight of Jade, she beckoned her nearer.

"Miss Heywood, how may I help you?"

The lump in her throat was almost making it impossible to speak and her voice was unsteady as she said "I came to visit Draco Malfoy. I heard he was injured."

The nurse shook her head, as if she was condemning what had happened. Then she said sternly "He was indeed. But I'm sorry, dear. Mr Malfoy needs his rest now. You can visit him tomorrow."

"But.." Jade answered back; then she decided she would just count on Madam Pomfrey's discretion. ".. I'm his girlfriend." She didn't even need to be a great actress to let the tears flow now. Of course, she wasn't technically his girlfriend. Who knew what they really were? But she needed to see him right now. And as the tears started running down her face, the matron took pity on her.

Madam Pomfrey sighed and her face became a little softer. "Alright, dear, in that case I might make an exception. But please be gentle with him. His injuries were quite serious."

Jade smiled at her under her tears and just wanted to take a few steps towards the bed behind screen, as the nurse called her back.

"And Miss Heywood, as you are his girlfriend, you certainly wouldn't mind reapplying another layer of the Essence of Dittany on his scars, would you? I have a severe case of Dragon Pox to deal with, before the poor girl contaminates the whole castle with it. The flask sits on his bedside table."

Jade nodded curtly and turned around again, wiping away her tears; Draco shouldn't be able to tell that she had been crying. As she stepped around the dividing screen, she could see him lying in the bed; his eyes were open and he was looking at her. She felt a great rush of relief as she looked into his grey eyes; he was going to be alright.

Slowly she approached him and now she saw fine red lines on his cheek and trailing down his neck. It looked as if he had been slashed by a knife. It must have hurt like hell.

"Hey you." she said shyly, smiling at him. "How are you?"

"Frankly, I've been better." He answered; his voice sounded a little frail. He tried to push himself up on the bed, but flinched imperceptibly and stayed in his position. Jade sat down on the chair, which stood next to the bed.

"Harry told me what happened. He didn't know the spell, he used on you. He seemed to be very shocked."

"Well, even a five year old knows not to shoot around with unknown spells." His eyes conveyed the slightest trace of annoyance, but his voice lacked the usual spite. Jade nodded in consent and just looked at him for a moment. The instant, Harry had told her that Draco had been hurt, her heart had certainly missed a beat. He really meant so much to her, she couldn't deny that.

"Will it scar?" she asked him now. She didn't think that a few scars would diminish his good looks, even if they were in the face. But if it was her own face, she certainly would mind.

"Pomfrey said it might fade completely one day." He said, very silently. He was still looking at her; Jade thought she could see something glimmer in his eyes.

"She asked me to apply another layer of this." Jade said, while taking the little bottle of Dittany in her hands. "You wouldn't mind, would you?"

"Well, I certainly wouldn't.." the typical smirk crept into his face now; it surprised Jade, but it made her heart flutter at the same time. "..but I don't know about my _girlfriend_. She might get a little angry."

Jade smiled at him. So he had heard her little lie to Madam Pomfrey. "Oh, I don't think so. I heard she was a very sweet person." She said playfully.

Draco chuckled now, looking as handsome as he always did. "She is.. She's the best."

Jade beamed at him, while she popped open the lid of the bottle. Then she pulled her chair a little closer. The serum was a very oily, brownish liquid and Jade knew that it worked best if it was massaged right into the scarred tissue. She put a little drop on her fingers and started on Draco's cheek.

"You certainly need a shave.." she murmured.

"Yeah, maybe those were Potter's thoughts before he directed that spell at me." He answered dryly, looking up at her. Jade shook her head, grinning; at least he could already be sarcastic about it.

Slowly Jade made her way down his neck and past his collarbone. The blanket was pulled up to his chest and she didn't know exactly where the scarring stopped. So she pulled down the blanket further and inhaled a breath. She had thought the scars on his face were the worst, but now she could see that she had been entirely wrong. Harry must have ripped his whole ribcage open as much thicker, angrier red marks were right on his chest, above his heart.

She felt her bottom lip quiver a little, as she started applying the liquid onto his chest. Draco, who had been watching her, laid his own hand upon hers now. She looked into his eyes, but then quickly looked down again, feeling her eyes watering up once more. She didn't want to cry in front of him another time and blinked the tears away. Slowly he stroked the back of her hand, trying to comfort her.

"You have no idea what it means to me, Jade, that you are here tonight." His voice sounded deeper than usual now, and there was something emotional and moved in it.

It did mean a lot to Jade, too. She sniffed a little, then raised his hand up to her lips and kissed his fingers. He brushed her lower lip with his thumb, and then cupped her cheek in his hand. His touch made goose bumps erupt on her skin and Jade melted into it; she loved him touching her like this so much. For a moment she closed her eyes and just felt the connection between them.

"I'm so sorry.." she heard him whisper now, but she just shook her head.

"I know."

"I never meant to hurt you."

"I know."

Her voice had shot slightly higher again as she spoke and apparently Draco noticed and started caressing her face with his hand tenderly. Slowly, Jade inhaled the scent of his skin and calmed down again. As she opened her eyes, his grey ones were still on her and this time she could really see him again. He wasn't hiding anymore. She knew that this would probably be the moment to talk about what had happened, but somehow she didn't want to. She just wanted to be with him and be there for him and only wished that he would see that. Gently, she took his hand in hers again and moved it to lie back down on the covers to resume her work on his scars.

* * *

What happened then was not what Jade had expected, but somehow this whole situation evoked feelings inside her, she couldn't really control. She hadn't seen Draco like this for a long time and she had always thought that he had lost a lot of weight, but now that he wasn't wearing any clothes, he suddenly didn't seem so skinny anymore. His chest was still broad and muscular and as Jade pulled the blanket down lower, she could see that his abs were as defined as ever. As she was working her way over his chest, down his abs and his lower abdomen, she couldn't help but feel slightly hot. The scars didn't seem to end and touching him like this, massaging the liquid into his skin, suddenly felt a little more arousing than it ought to. This was probably not what Madam Pomfrey had in mind, when she had asked her to do it. But he just had a beautiful body and there were certain images in her mind that she associated with it. She remembered him on top of her; she remembered those abs tensing and his muscles flexing. Jade bit her lip as she pulled the blanket down even lower. The red marks stopped exactly an inch away from his pyjamas. She moistened the tips of her fingers again and let them trail down his body.. and down his abdomen. She felt his eyes upon her and the tension getting stronger. She couldn't resist sliding her fingertips inside his pants just for the fraction of an inch and sweeping them slowly across his soft skin. She heard Draco moan silently and it aroused her even more. As she looked up at him, his eyes looked stormier than ever.

"Jade," he said, his voice sounding husky "I really lost quite some blood tonight. If you go on like this, I might faint... Can't get excited."

Jade smiled at him guiltily and pulled her fingertips out of his boxers again, like a child that had gotten caught with one hand in the candy jar. She tried to cool her feelings down and pulled the blanket neatly back over his chest. Just in that moment, she heard the doors of the Hospital Wing fly open.

"Where is he? Where is my son?" It was the voice of a woman, very clear and superior.

Jade's eyes widened in surprise, she looked at Draco for a moment, who was looking equally shocked. Inside this little room there was no place to hide; the legs of the bed were much too long and one could easily see the floor underneath it. She panicked as she saw no chance to hide from Draco's mother.. Unless..

Quickly, she took out her wand and rapped it roughly on top of her own head. As she felt the familiar cold sensation of the Disillusionment Charm trickle down her body, she knelt down on the floor and crept underneath the bed. If she had performed the spell well, nobody would be able to tell easily that she was lying there.

The steps of Narcissa Malfoy drew nearer now and a second later Jade could hear someone pull the screen to the side. The moment the woman stepped into the little separated room, Jade had to keep her mouth from dropping open. She was breathtakingly beautiful; definitely along the lines of Mrs Zabini. For a woman she was rather tall and her long, sleek blonde hair made her look even more like a model from a Muggle magazine. Jade could see where Draco had gotten the slenderness of his body and the delicate bone structure of his face from. But even though her face was undeniably beautiful, it was etched with worry and fear. She moved closer to the bed now and out of Jade's view.

"Draco! Severus just told me what happened. Thank Merlin, he happened to be around.. The Sectumsempra curse.. I hope Potter finally gets expelled for this." she hissed disapprovingly; then added in a softer voice "How do you feel, dear?" Jade thought that Draco's mother sounded earnestly worried as she saw her feet come to a halt next to Draco. She heard how he pushed himself up in his bed, which probably had to be rather painful. The blanket rustled; then Jade heard a gasp.

"Oh, Draco.. what did he do?" the woman whispered and let out a silent sob.

"Mother, don't cry..." His voice sounded a little panicky. He was clearly not used to seeing his mother in such a state.

For a moment Jade only heard Mrs Malfoy's silent sobbing and Draco moving in his bed.

"I'm sorry.. I know I need to be stronger. It's just so hard as a mother to see my only son like this.. As if you didn't have it hard enough already." Jade could hear how Narcissa struggled to keep her sobs at bay. And she really felt for that woman. If Jade herself ever had a son and he was made a Death Eater at the age of sixteen and she had no chance at helping him or getting him out of everything, she would probably never stop crying. "I'm so proud of you, Draco. After what the Carrows did, I was so scared you would make a mistake.. It was their only goal. They all want to see you fail. It wasn't even on the Dark Lord's order and they got their own fair share of punishment for it."

For Jade, Narcissa Malfoy was talking in riddles. The Carrows? Those Death Eater siblings? Acting on their own command?.. What did they to? Their '_own share'_ of punishment? How could they do anything to him when Draco was here in the castle? Or had they done something to his mother? Oh Merlin.. That would explain so much. She remembered the look in Draco's eyes and it made her feel sick as she thought about it. They had hurt his mother. It had always been the one thing, Draco had been most afraid of. Jade knew that this was not even something, she should hear, and she started growing slightly uncomfortable. She felt as if she was intruding on a private conversation and was grateful that Draco was aware that she was down here.

Their conversation went on for a few minutes until Narcissa lowered her voice and asked. "How are you moving on with it? Do you think it will work?"

"It will. I just need a little more time." Draco sounded very confident and Jade knew that he just faked it to make her worry less about him. She noticed a difference in his voice as he spoke to his mother; more manly and grown-up. It was kind of sexy. She rolled her eyes as she caught herself thinking this. Was she really this needy?

After a moment of silence, Narcissa spoke again, sounding a little calmer. "I'm so grateful I have you, Draco. I'll spend the night in the castle and come visit you tomorrow morning again. Sleep well, dear. And don't forget to renew the Concealment Charm on your arm. It would be a disaster if someone saw..." Jade heard how she kissed her son. Then the woman turned on her heels and took a few steps away from the bed, just as Madam Pomfrey peeked inside the screen again.

"Official visitor hours are over now. I must ask Miss Heywood to.. Oh, has she already left?"

"Ages ago." Jade heard Draco answer promptly.

"Well, in that case.." Madam Pomfrey said, slightly confused, and bustled away again without ending her sentence.

Narcissa Malfoy turned on her heel. "Heywood? Oscar's daughter?"

"His niece." Draco corrected her curtly; it was obvious that he didn't want to talk about Jade in front of his mother.

"Ah, yes, I heard about that girl. She is about your age, is she not?"

Draco didn't answer. Jade imagined him nodding.

"Gryffindor, I take it?" by now Narcissa Malfoy's voice sounded as if she was smirking. Again there was no audible answer from Draco.

"It's very nice of her to visit you." She said now; you could hear in her voice that she was keen on getting more information out of her son.

"She's one of Potter's friends. She just came to apologize in his stead." Draco explained in his usual drawl. He always used it, when talking about something he found tremendously boring.

For a short moment there was silence. Then Mrs Malfoy spoke again. "Does she know that you are in love with her?"

"What?" Draco sounded flabbergasted. "Mother!"

She just laughed. "Oh, I know that look in your eyes. I must have seen it a million times already." Then she added, fondly "You resemble your father so much at times."

"Not that much.." Draco said and suddenly there was a dark tone in his voice.

"Maybe not in character." His mother said, "I know you wouldn't make the same choices, he made. You grew up in very different times...harder times. And then again, you might be a Malfoy. But you're also a Black." She added, with a hint of pride in her voice. "Good night, Draco."

"Good night, mother."

* * *

Jade waited until her footsteps had ebbed away, before she scrambled up from the floor and lifted the Disillusionment Charm from her body. Draco, who was still sitting upright in the bed, smiled at her as she came into view again. Apparently the visit of his mother had eased his mind a lot.

"That really was good spellwork, Jade. I couldn't see you at all, when you turned up again."

Jade smiled back at him. "Thanks, I've been practicing all summer.. But I think I'd better get going now, too. Madam Pomfrey told me you needed your rest."

Draco's smile fell a little at her words and he looked a bit disappointed. "Alright.. I'll see you when I get out, I guess?"

"Maybe I'll come visit you before that time.." She was still smiling at him, as she took a step towards him. ".. if I'm able to sneak in."

"I would really appreciate it." He grinned at her. Jade closed the distance between them and laid her hands down upon his bare shoulders. She leaned in and kissed him on his forehead. The close proximity to him almost made her shiver.

As she slowly pulled back again, she saw how he tilted his chin upwards imperceptibly. His little movement made butterflies erupt in her stomach and for a moment she hovered above him, tempted to lean in and really kiss him. As the tension grew unbearable, Jade pulled back completely and stepped away from his bed. They looked at each other one more time; then Draco inclined his head.

"Get back to your Tower safely."

Jade smiled and nodded and she was just about to turn around and leave, when the lights of the Hospital Wing all died out. A sudden darkness engulfed her. Of course, when it came to night's rest the matron had her own strict principles. The sky outside already had turned a dark indigo and Jade could barely see, where she needed to go. She heard the door to Madam Pomfrey's office fall shut.

Suddenly arms were wrapped around her waist from the back and Jade turned around, finding her own body flush against Draco's. Her hands rested against his bare chest as his travelled up and buried themselves in her hair. And there, in the darkness, she let him kiss her.

* * *

Hours later, Draco still lay awake. The rain was pattering heavily against the windows of the infirmary as the faint light of the moon illuminated the room. The girl was sleeping on his chest, her long waves of hair sprawled out over his bare skin and her breathing silent and calm. He was playing with a strand of her hair, wrapping it around his finger again and again. He couldn't sleep tonight. Something was keeping him awake, as if he felt the need to make sure that nothing was going to happen that could take her out of his arms again. And so as the night turned into the early morning, he was alone with his mind and started to think about what had happened today.

He remembered the moment, when he had heard her voice outside; it had restored the little quantum of hope, which he had lost after their fight. He had been so afraid that he might lose her again, so afraid that she might turn away from him. But she hadn't. He had already put her through so much hurt, but each time they had come back even stronger. And he dared to think that it was, because they belonged to each other. There was no other person on earth, who knew him better than Jade, who understood him like she always did. Of course, his actions probably had confused her a lot of times, but eventually her instincts always had led her back to him. As if she could sense what was going on inside his mind...

But of course, there were sides of him, he preferred her not to see, like when he was crying in the boys' bathroom like a small disturbed child. And he still did not want to lose his face in front of her; that just wasn't who he was.

He pulled her closer to his body as his thoughts evolved around her; the movement stirred her and a little piece of hair fell into her face. Carefully, he pushed it back again and his fingers touched her skin. It always was so smooth.. but she felt slightly cold.

He turned around to lie on his side and pulled the blanket closer around her. A searing pain shot through his chest as he moved. He inhaled a sharp breath. Whatever this curse was, Potter had used on him, it was a bloody pain to go through. He wondered where a good boy like Potter had even picked that one up...

Somewhere in between sleeping and waking up, Jade was nuzzling her face against his chest, like a small kitten, and Draco buried one of his hands in her hair to hold her to him. At times it could still be a little shocking for him to realize how such little movements of hers could still make him feel this weird sensation in the pit of his stomach. It reminded him of something else that had happened today.

It had surprised him somewhat, but the moment his mother had mentioned his alleged resemblance to his father, a sudden anger had flared up inside him. And he knew that in some way, he was blaming his own father for everything. He simply couldn't understand...

As Jade lay in his arms, her cheek against his skin and her hands resting against his chest, he knew that he'd never, ever put her into danger. He would never put her life on the line. And he would never sit in prison, while she got tortured by the same bloody people, he had presented her as his friends. And Merlin, he definitely had no fatherly ambitions at the moment, but hell, if he ever had children, he would never, _never_ let his son be made a Death Eater. He'd rather take the Potter route and simply die for his child, before it could get harmed. He knew he'd take the curse for Jade anytime. And if she'd be the mother of his children.. he would do anything for this family. He would protect them with everything he had. He would never be such a faceless coward...

Of course, he did not want his father to die for him. That would be ridiculous. But he just couldn't understand why he had put their family into a situation like this. How he could even survive a day in his cell, knowing what happened to his wife... And Draco felt left alone. He knew his mother thought that by making Snape do the Unbreakable Vow, she had provided as much protection over him as possible. But that didn't help him now. He still had to go through all of this without them..

To his side, he heard Jade inhale a deep breath and as he turned towards her, she slowly opened her eyes. He lowered his face to kiss her lips again. She kissed him back, still a little drowsy, and her hands found their way around the back of his neck.

"Draco," she whispered in between kisses "I think I need to go, before Madam Pomfrey catches us."

He nodded, but didn't stop. "I'll bring you up there.." he mumbled ".. just a moment." Her lips were soft against his as they continued kissing and as she opened her mouth a fragment to let him kiss her fully, he moved to linger above her. His chest still ached from the curse, but he ignored it. And as her small hands trailed down his upper body, he almost felt as if Potter's spell had never touched him at all.


	44. Chapter 44

_Draco_

The sun was shining brightly through the pointed arch windows of the Hospital Wing and in the slanting beams of golden light, little grains of dust danced over the polished wooden floor. Draco lay in his bed, fully dressed and looking dreadfully bored. He had hoped Madam Pomfrey would allow him to leave earlier today, but unfortunately the matron had told him that he had to stay at least for another day or two. She had explained something about cursed wounds and how they healed slower and some other things, he hadn't listened to. And granted, she probably had a point. Earlier this morning, when the faint light of dawn had flooded into the Hospital Wing and urged him to tear himself away from Jade, the walk up to the Gryffindor Tower had exhausted him far more than he would like to admit. In fact, he had to sit down on the stone steps, as soon as Jade's cloak had whipped out of sight behind the portrait of the Fat Lady, to regain control over his breathing and the stabbing pain inside his chest... He would definitely have to pay Potter back for this one...

His mother had already visited him early in the morning; she had brought him some sweets, the _Daily_ _Prophet_ and a few books to read. But Draco wouldn't take a look inside them anyway. He just hated the fact that he was stuck in here and wasting his time, when he had so much more urgent things to do. He hoped Jade would come back... She had promised him, she would sneak in later..

Suddenly the large doors were opened and a curiously shrill voice reverberated through the stretched hall of the Hospital Wing; Draco recognized it instantly. So his Slytherin friends had come to visit. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed and sat up to see Pansy, Daphne, Crabbe and Goyle walking along the rows of beds into his direction; Blaise was sauntering behind languidly. As they came nearer, he could see that Pansy's eyes were red and puffy and her hands were still clinging onto one of her silken handkerchiefs. The two of them hadn't really spoken to each other for months and somehow it made him feel a little guilty to see her standing in front of his Hospital bed right now. He noticed how Daphne and the others stayed behind as Pansy took the last few steps up to his bed.

"I tried to visit you last night," she said and her voice did the impossible by shooting up even higher, "but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let me through.. I couldn't sleep the entire night, I was so afraid .. " and then her voice broke entirely and she raised the handkerchief to her eyes again. A little hesitant, Draco reached out an arm in an attempt to console her, but before he even knew what was happening Pansy was already clinging on to him, sobbing into the fabric of his shirt with her arms around his neck. "I was so afraid," she wept, more silently now "that something horrible happened to you and that the last words, we said to each other, were those of a nasty fight."

Behind her back, Daphne was watching her friend with sympathy in her eyes, Crabbe and Goyle were merely looking mildly bewildered and Blaise's expression was somewhat annoyed as Pansy slid down lower and sat down on Draco's lap. The way Blaise was watching them made him feel slightly uncomfortable as he put one arm around the crying girl. He knew that he should be careful in his actions. Pansy probably still was a sore spot for Jade...

It took a few minutes until Pansy had detached her body from his again. Meanwhile he had told his friends a version of what had happened last night, dramatized by cries of the girls and gasps of Crabbe and Goyle. They stayed for nearly two hours; the girls were sitting by his bed and were actually quite entertaining, while Crabbe and Goyle munched on his sweets and Blaise stood tall by the window, silent as usual.

It had been a while that Draco had found himself involved in any kind of longer conversation with his friends and today he thought that Daphne was actually decent to talk to. It was a shame that she had one of those faces, you simply never remembered, and was plain ordinary from head to toe. There was no mystery about the dirty blonde girl. Pansy, however, always tried her hardest to create a mystery, failing miserably at it every time. And she still was a little too immature to engage in any kind of stimulating conversation as she kept dragging their topics back to Hogwarts' gossip and found immense pleasure in talking about the lives of other people. Something Draco could not find any interest in anymore.

* * *

As lunch time approached, they slowly rose from their seats to leave, promising they would visit him again later. Draco realized how Pansy stayed behind, whispering something to Daphne, who then left with the boys. Pansy turned back towards him again and tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear; she looked slightly nervous. She sat back down on her chair and her eyes flicked up to his face, as Draco elevated his brows.

"I'm really happy we can talk again. But I still don't really understand what happened that night. I always wanted to talk to you about it, but I never dared to.." she said and Draco restrained a groan as he let his body fall back into his cushion. He knew she'd bring this night up again. It annoyed him immensely. Apparently Pansy noticed and her voice grew more silent as she carried on. "I just don't understand, Draco." She repeated. "You kissed me and then.."

This time Draco let the groan leave his lips. "Why do you keep bringing this up?" he asked her.

"Because it happened, no matter how much you deny it! And it was real. No other kiss ever felt like this. And no other boy ever held me in his arms like that. You made me feel so safe and I want to feel that way again!" Pansy's cheeks were flushed by now and her eyes had left his. He knew that it took a lot of her to tell him this, but still it annoyed him. She should simply forget about it, just like he had.

"It did not mean anything." He stated in a final manner and watched how Pansy let her head drop a little. A light breeze flowed through the room now, moving through Pansy's hair and tingling over his face. It carried over a faint trace of her scent. Since when did she smell so good? He inhaled it deeply and it almost had an intoxicating effect, as if an exquisite poison suddenly lingered in the air. For a second he felt mildly clouded, before he realized what Pansy's scent reminded him of... She smelled exactly like Jade. He had never noticed that before. And it was kind of strange...

Her green eyes turned up to look at him again. There was an honest clarity inside them. "So you admit that it happened?"

He felt his own head nod; apparently there was no use in denying it anymore. "I do."

What happened then was something, he had not anticipated. The air behind Pansy suddenly quivered, he heard the rustling of fabric and only a split-second later a jet of light shot over Pansy's shoulder. The girl shrieked in shock and Draco ducked down low as he felt a rush of air soar past his ear. _What the..?_

He swirled around as he stood up from his bed and instinctively pulled out his wand. He couldn't see anyone, but he could hear soft footsteps, moving away from them quickly. And that was when he realized that Pansy did not smell like Jade any longer, nor had she ever... He cursed under his breath as a sensation of terror took hold of his mind_. He was such an idiot! _

Ignoring Pansy's questions, he rushed out of the Hospital Wing. The footsteps were still distinguishable to his right and so he followed as quickly as he could. The stinging pain crept up in his chest again as he ran after her, but he wouldn't slow down. He needed to catch her... He couldn't lose her. He skidded into another corridor; it was full of other students, there was no chance he could ever hear her faint steps in here. Ruthlessly, he pushed the students out of his way and caught a glimpse of a cloak whipping around the corner of the hallway. He recognized it instantly; it was this cape Jade had gotten from Mrs Zabini that felt like woven air and looked like nothing else, he had ever seen. He urged his legs to run faster as the pain in his chest slowly grew unbearable. But as he turned into the next corridor, he could finally see her. The Disillusionment Charm had been lifted and Jade took quick strides as she moved down the hallway. She probably heard him behind her, but she didn't turn around. And it wasn't until she took the lasts steps up to the portrait of the Fat Lady that Draco called out her name. She froze on the landing.

Clutching at his chest, he approached her slowly. There were tiny specks of dark in his vision as he made his body walk after her and only stopped a few steps below her. She turned around now and the expression on her face disconcerted him slightly. He had expected her to look furious and be seething with anger, but Jade's face looked like a cold mask. She glanced down at him, her jaw was set and her chin slightly raised. A few strands of her hair, that had once been pinned up, had fallen down to frame her face, emphasizing her slender neck. She looked beautiful, but in a horribly alarming way.

"Just let me explain." He said as he tried to catch his breath again.

"What's there to explain?" she asked, with a note of infinite disdain in her voice. "You told me you didn't touch her. That you never would. You lied." She sounded just as final as he had earlier. For a second Draco did not know what to say.

"No, I didn't .. And I never slept with her." was all he could muster.

Her arched eyebrows rose. He had never thought that Jade would ever look at him like this, as if he was merely a waste of space and skin. She was his little girl, the girl that had slept the night on his chest.. But now all she was reduced to was an icy facade. He took a few more steps up to her.

"Don't come near me!" Her voice still sounded contemptuous, but now he could hear something else, too. It was pain.. He was only the final step away from her now and reached out his hand. Jade side-stepped. "Don't touch me! Don't you dare touch me!"

He knew that he had misused her trust and hurt her pride. Jade was a proud girl, she had a high opinion of herself and she thought nothing of girls like Pansy. And her pride would probably make her unable to forgive him. He had no idea how he could clear this mess up again.

"Jade, please.." he tried again, taking hold of her arm. But before he could say anything more a burning sensation had spread across his face. Jade had yanked her arm out of his grip and had slapped him in the face as hard as she could. For a moment Draco was speechless as a numb sensation followed the pain in his cheek. He took the last step up to her; Jade didn't back away.

"Did you just slap me?"

He could see how nose twitched as she hissed back "And I'll do it again if you don't back off now."

He glowered down at her as anger slowly crept up inside him. Not even Jade Heywood could slap him and get away with it. His eyes travelled down her throat as her chest rose and fell rapidly. She looked up at him determinedly. There was a wild, but passionate expression in her dark eyes. And that was all he needed. Without thinking about it, he grabbed her by the hair roughly and crushed his lips against hers. She tried to turn her head to the side, but he held her firmly in place. Her small fists started hammering against his chest and it hurt like hell, but somehow it didn't matter at that moment. She struggled against him and tried to shove him away as his lips were hungry for hers. "Don't!" was her angry response. "Don't!"

He didn't budge; it only made him more determined. And he pulled her closer by the waist as his other hand was still buried deeply in her hair. Not being able to fight him in any other way, Jade chose the only option left and bit down hard on his lower lip. He could taste his own blood, but it couldn't stop him anymore. He felt her body tremble in his arms as she resisted him with all her might, and he didn't know why it made him so much more desperate to have her. In a way she was sexy as hell in her rage.

And so he pulled her even closer now, kissing her fiercely, sucking and nibbling at her lower lip and urging her to open her mouth. Another slap was all he got for it. He pulled her hair harder and let his other hand slowly travel down her back, underneath her cape and rubbing little circles down her lower back. He could feel how her breathing sped up as he wandered over her curves and then, not able to restrain himself now, he pushed up the skirt of her dress and really felt her up. Jade gasped; he had been waiting for this and let his tongue travel into her mouth. And finally, she kissed him back.

When Jade kissed, she always kissed with a passion that left him breathless. And today it seemed as if she was hating and loving him at the same time. She kissed aggressively, bit him and curled her hands into fists on his chest. But then she would caress his lips tenderly again, moan softly and push her body even closer against his. As if she didn't want it, but just couldn't help herself.

And as her hand strayed through his hair, tearing at it slightly in the nape of his neck, he backed her up against the wall behind her and pushed her roughly against it. Finally she had given herself up to him and his mouth left hers as he trailed kisses down her neck. Her nails dug into his skin and as he came up to claim her lips again, Jade reacted instinctively and jumped up on his hips, wrapping her slender legs around him as he pushed her harder into the wall. He captured her wrists in his hands and pinned them above her head. She was completely defenceless as he continued kissing her and it turned him on even more.

Both of their breathing had gone heavy by now and as he started sucking on the soft skin of her neck, Jade slowly began moving against him. This girl would be the end of him.

The rest of her hair had fallen down by now and as her curls started cascading down her chest, he was engulfed in a wave of their scent. He let go of her wrists and started roaming her body with his hands. Her face, her neck, her breasts, her waist, her butt, her thighs.. And as he played with her, he felt her writhing against him even more. He heard her voice purring in his ear and never wanted to hear another sound. His hands travelled underneath her dress again.

He heard steps behind him, but somehow he couldn't be bothered to stop. He felt how Jade pulled up his hood and hid them both underneath it as they were joined in another kiss. Boys were laughing and shouting "Get a room!", before the two of them were left alone again.

Jade's hands travelled down his chest now and even lower. And lower still. He let out a deep growl as the tips of her fingers travelled inside his pants; it nearly pushed him over the edge as she touched him and he started kissing her almost desperately. Her hands kept moving and Draco couldn't bear it any longer. She took his breath away like no other girl had ever done and he never had felt the need to have anyone so badly. He tried to clear his mind enough to be able to think of a classroom nearby.

But then she let go of him, to his great displeasure she pulled her hand away and her legs were uncurled around him. Slowly she slid down the wall, separating their kiss. Her eyes opened and travelled down his face and chest, finally resting on the obvious bulge in his pants.

"Why don't you take _this_ down to the dungeons and let the whore finish you off for me?" she smiled dangerously and with a sneer worthy of a Malfoy, she turned and simply walked away. Before he could even realize what she was doing, she had already reached the Fat Lady with quick strides and disappeared behind the portrait.

Draco couldn't believe what just had happened. Had she really pulled that off? How could she leave him here like this? This girl had nerves.

He leaned against the wall with his hands in an attempt to cool off his current situation.

He needed a cold shower.

* * *

_Jade_

As the portrait closed behind her, Jade let her body fall backwards into to wall beside it to steady herself. Her breathing was fast, her blood was rushing through her veins like fire and her heart felt as if it was burning from it. A part of her wanted to scream and another part wanted to cry. What was he doing to her again?

The Common Room was rather empty. All the rain from the day before had washed the sky clear and most of the students were spending their Sunday outside in the warm and sunny weather. None of her friends were in sight and so Jade dragged herself into one of the large armchairs and simply sat there.

It took a long time until the whirlwind of emotions inside her had ebbed down enough to enable her to think clearly again. So Draco had kissed Pansy the night before Christmas holidays. It hurt her as she thought about it and she felt how jealousy started eating away at her insides. She wanted to slap him again. Harder.

But in some way, she knew that she couldn't complain. It had been the same night that Roger had kissed her. So technically she had done the same. But she had never lied about it. Draco had never asked, but she knew that she would never have lied still. But he had. He had promised her that nothing had ever happened between him and Pansy. And somehow it hurt her even more to know that he was lying to her. She had always trusted him so much and never doubted a word that had left his mouth. It had been the honesty between them that had brought them so close together. But if he had lied about kissing Pansy.. had he lied about other things as well? Couldn't she trust him anymore?

Her eyes started stinging and she lowered her head to bury her face in her hands. She was hurting again..

"So, that was you outside, wasn't it?"

Jade's head jerked upwards. She hadn't heard Dean approaching, but now he sat on the armchair to her side. He was grinning at her, apparently completely unaware of the fact that she was in pain. Jade remembered the male voice outside of the Common Room; so that had been Dean. But had he recognized the boy, she had been with? For a second she hesitated with her answer. Was there even a point in denying that it had been her? Maybe it was worth a try?

And so she said "What if I say 'no'?"

"Then my answer would be: Show me your hands! Painted your nails dark today, did you?" he grinned.

Jade quickly pulled back her fingers and curled them into fists, crossing her arms in front of chest. Dean merely laughed. "I recognized him, too." He said, startling Jade "I guess, there's only one type of guy wearing shoes like that.. Expensive, leather, I guess Italian.. And of course, his height kind of gave him away.."

Jade's eyes had widened by now. "Dean, please, you can't tell anyone."

"Why not? It's not exactly a surprise, is it?" he asked, the grin still on his face. Slowly he started to confuse her. Would he really be grinning like that if he was talking about Draco Malfoy?

"It's not?" she asked.

"You're always together anyway. That's why I was looking for him, when you got into that fight with Malfoy."

Jade sat up taller in surprise. "You're talking about Blaise?"

"Yeah, who do you think I was talking about?"

She thought about it for a moment. It probably was the perfect excuse. And so she said, "Blaise..?"

Dean laughed in a kind way. "Why do you keep it a secret though?" he asked.

"I can't really talk about it." Jade answered.

"Fair enough." He shrugged it off with another good-humoured grin. It was in that moment that the portrait hole opened again and Harry, Ron and Hermione stepped in. They did not see Jade as they made their way through the Common Room and sat down nearby the windows.

"Excuse me for a moment." Jade said to Dean as she stood up and followed the three of them. She hadn't spoken to Harry since yesterday, when he had told her about Draco, and an inexplicable anger rose up inside her as she saw him sitting there. She noticed Hermione gesticulating energetically as the girl talked to her two friends; apparently the three of them were in the middle of a heated discussion.

"I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person," Hermione was saying as Jade got closer. "And I was right, wasn't I?"

"No, I don't think you were," said Harry stubbornly. His words angered Jade even more. He had used that spell and now he didn't even think there was anything wrong with it? His green eyes flicked up towards her now, as she had come to a halt right behind Hermione. For a second they just looked at each other and Jade didn't say a word as Hermione went on arguing with him. But even though her argumentation was undeniably convincing and enhanced by her brilliant logic, Harry kept defending the Prince vigorously.

"Give it a rest, Hermione!" another voice suddenly piped in; Ginny had appeared to Harry's side. "By the sound of it Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"

"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed!" answered Hermione, a little hurt. "But you can't call that _Sectumsempra_ spell good, Ginny, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what all his detentions with Snape have done to your chances in the next match-"

"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," snapped Ginny, "you'll only embarrass yourself!"

Hermione sat up rigidly at those words; then she folded her arms across her chest and started glaring in the opposite direction. An uncomfortable silence had suddenly spread through the room. Jade, who hadn't said anything until now, finally broke it.

"Where's the book, Harry?" she said silently.

"I'm not going to tell you that." He answered back, his voice sounded harsh.

"Why are you so desperately clinging to it? Do you still hope it might have been your father's?" Jade asked, not being able to give this topic a rest, before Harry had admitted that the Prince wasn't to be trusted. But Harry only shot her a dirty look.

"Just leave it, Jade." Ginny came to Harry's aid yet another time.

"I'm talking to Harry right now." Jade said without as much as sparing a glance at the redheaded girl. "I just can't believe how you trusted that book so much.. after Riddle's diary.. Let alone the fact that he calls himself a Prince... Can't you see the relation? The Half-Blood _**Prince**_.. _**Lord**_ V-mh-mh.."

Harry snorted. "Oh, you can berate me like that, but you can't even say his name out loud?"

She ignored his snide comment. "I'm just saying that the reference to his blood status alone comes across dodgy! You know the people who believe in that! They always are the worst!"

"Oh, like your boyfriend?" He snapped at her as his eyes sparkled angrily.

In a split-second Jade had drawn her wand, but Harry was even quicker and a Disarming Charm was already flying through the air almost faster than Jade could put up her Shield Charm.

"Whoa!" Ron jumped up from his chair and got in between the two of them, pushing Jade's wand hand lower and sending Harry a warning look. "Put your wands back! Jade.."

His freckled face looked down at her, his hand still on her arm. Suddenly Jade was gasping for air as her throat felt tight again. This was all too much to deal with right now. "How can he say something like that?" she whispered, loud enough for Harry to hear. "He knows nothing about him. Nothing! And when he's the one, who almost _killed_ him yesterday ? !"

Ron's grip on her arm grew softer; he looked back at Harry again. "Just apologize to her, mate.."

Jade heard Harry snort for a second time. Ron was standing right between the two of them and so she couldn't see how the boy got up. "Alright, Mrs Malfoy, I'm sorry.." She heard Harry say irritably as Ron cleared his throat loudly and stepped aside. "Jade..." Harry corrected himself "I just don't like to be scolded like a little child. I know what I did wasn't great. And I certainly won't pick up spells like that again."

He held out his hand, but somehow Jade felt unable to take it. She'd rather keep on fighting than simply making up. She had no idea where this sudden animosity against Harry had come from and she had never felt it before, but right now, despite everything that had happened today, she felt so close to Draco. Her loyalty lay with the blond boy and she felt strangely ... Malfoy-ish. She wanted to sneer at Harry, because he really acted like a little child and just didn't want to see it. She wanted to call him Potter and be nasty.. It was weird. She had always admired Harry so much, for everything he had been through. But right now her admiration had ceased, she was disappointed in him. And she wanted him to know that and feel bad.

"If I find that book, I'll burn it." That was all she said, before she turned and walked out of the Common Room.

Her feet carried her through the castle. She was completely alone now. A part of her felt the need to run to Blaise and cry in his arms again. But she didn't do that. She couldn't keep running to him every time she felt hurt. She needed to learn how to deal with those things herself.

The sky outside still was a bright turquoise and only a few clouds were drifting slowly across it as she left the castle through the Entrance Hall. She stepped out onto the grass and slowly made her way to the edge of the lake, where she lay down and simply closed her eyes. Her hands felt the warmth of the earth underneath her and her ears heard the birds singing in the trees. And she stayed there for hours.. Completely alone. Just with her own thoughts and feelings. And it was okay. In fact.. it was nice. 

* * *

The sun was slowly setting as Jade heard feet in the grass, slowly coming closer. A moment later, there was a "Hmph!" and someone landed in the grass to her side. Jade smiled, she knew who it was, and she turned her head to the side as her eyes opened slowly. Hermione was sitting next to her, her eyes squinting in the sun and her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"I can't believe Ginny really said that to you." Jade spoke softly to her friend. Another "Hmph!" was the only response, Hermione gave at first. Then she said "I can't believe Harry called you Mrs Malfoy!"

"Our friends really are a bunch of charmers, aren't they?" Jade laughed. She was surprised at her own good mood. Somehow the calmness around her had eased her mind a lot. She had come to the conclusion that a pug was nothing to be afraid of. And that Draco better had a real good excuse for telling her that nothing had happened in the first place. He would get his payback sooner or later.. She already had a good plan in mind.

"I think," Hermione said after a moment of silence "that Ginny is simply head over heels for Harry. That's why she defended him like that."

"Then I guess, Harry is simply head over heels for the Half-Blood Prince. You don't happen to know where he keeps that book?" Jade asked.

"I do, actually. But he would be really angry if I told you." The girl said and Jade nodded. She did not want Hermione to misuse Harry's trust. Hermione went on "Ron actually offered to ask Ginny to apologize to me. I think he acted really maturely today." She said with a smile as her eyes travelled over the edge of the lake. For another moment the two girls sat there in silence, enjoying the last rays of sunshine on their faces and looking out over the lake, both of them deeply absorbed in thoughts of their own. The chiming of a bell carried over the grounds, telling them that it was time for dinner. And so they stood up, brushed off little pieces of grass from their clothes and linked their arms as they walked up to the castle together.


	45. Chapter 45

A/N: Hey there :) I really wrote a lot during the last weeks, but somehow putting a chapter together always takes up so much time.. Initially I had intended to add another scene at the end of it, but it would have made this chapter a lot longer than mine usually are.. And I wondered which length do you prefer? Like the last chapters or rather longer? Bear in mind that longer chapters take a lot longer to write ;)

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

_Draco was running down a corridor in the deserted castle, chasing after a tiny speck of gold that was fluttering in front of him. It turned around a corner and he followed it up a flight of stairs. He almost caught up with it, but then it sped up again and he watched how it set down on the palm of a girl, who had appeared on the upper landing. She was holding the Golden Snitch in her hand and as her eyes caught his, he realized that it was Jade. Her lips turned into a smile as he came closer and he watched how the little golden ball turned into something else in her palm. It was an apple, red and gold, and more perfect than anything Draco had ever seen. It looked sweet and luscious and he longed to have it for himself. He took the last steps up to her as Jade extended her arm._

"_You want a bite?"_

_But before Draco could reach it, Jade had opened her palm and let the apple roll out of it. It sprang down the many steps and Draco watched in horror how it shattered into a thousand pieces as it hit the lower landing. He felt desperation well up inside him as he turned back towards Jade. But the girl had vanished. Instead, Pansy was standing in front of him, holding a basket full of acid green apples._

"_Try one of these, Draco!" she said to him. But Draco shook his head; he had had enough green apples, he wanted the golden one!_

"_Take it, Draco!" Pansy tried to thrust one of the apples into his hands, but he wouldn't take it. "Draco!" she hissed angrily and then a sharp pain shot through his leg as she kicked his shin in fury. "Draco!"_

"Draco!"

With a jolt, Draco awoke and it took a moment for him to realize that he was still sitting in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and Pansy, who sat beside him, had really kicked his shin and hissed his name in an attempt to wake him up. But she had failed to do so before Snape had noticed and now the entire classroom was staring at him as the professor got closer towards his desk.

"So I see Mr Malfoy does not find the topic of Inferi as interesting as catching up on his beauty sleep." Snape said in a low and malicious voice as he came nearer. "I'm afraid you have to stay after class, Mr Malfoy." He added silently and then he turned and walked back to the other side of the classroom, his dark cloak billowing behind him.

Draco cursed under his breath and ran a hand over his face. Exactly what he needed. Another talk with than greasy-haired git. He wouldn't have fallen asleep had he not stayed up the entire night, sneaking out of the Hospital Wing and into the Room of Requirement again. He watched Snape turn back towards his class as Granger resumed with some answer, which had been interrupted by him. Her fast, excited voice ached in his brain as the words bubbled out of her mouth. Couldn't she ever slow down a little? How he hated to listen to that know-it-all...

And so he turned his attention away from the Mudblood and his eyes wandered through the room, resting on one of the posters Snape had put up in here. It was the one of the bloody mass on the ground, all that was left of a wizard after an Inferi attack... Draco snorted silently; Snape really liked to make himself at home in his classrooms, didn't he? A few more of his pickled animals and it would be actually quite cosy in here... He was smirking as his gaze travelled over the students, coming to a halt for a moment on the back of Potter's head. He had contemplated getting his revenge on Potter, but then he thought it would only bring him more trouble than it was worth. And frankly, he had enough to deal with at the moment..

He turned to look at his fellow Slytherins and none of them really seemed to be paying any attention to the class either. Pansy was passing notes with Daphne, Tracey and Millicent were apparently dozing off as well and Theodore was appearing to be reading in his text book, but Draco could see that he had slid a letter in between the sheets. The only one, whose eyes actually were on Granger, who had apparently fallen into one of her many monologues by now, was Blaise. He was leaning back in his seat, his hand scratching his chin, but Draco could see in his dark eyes that he wasn't taking in a word of what the girl was saying either. He was immersed in thoughts of his own as well. Sometimes Draco wondered what really was going through Blaise's mind all the time. How could a person brood so much? And how could he stay so silent? But then again, it were the quiet ones, who had the loudest minds, weren't it?

Suddenly the dark, slanted eyes turned to look at him and Draco was startled for a moment. Something was different about them, but he couldn't point his finger at it and so he shifted his gaze away from the boy. If he had ever cared to learn more about Legilimency, he would probably know what was going through Blaise's mind... But he had always concentrated much more on shutting his own mind off than on invading others'. He knew that Jade was pretty good at it... Sometimes he wondered just how good she was exactly..

It was Tuesday by now and Madam Pomfrey hadn't released him officially until this very morning. Jade had not come back to visit him; not as if that had come as a surprise, though. He still couldn't quite believe that she had really pulled that stunt with him and left him like that; but in a way he was impressed. And a part of him liked it when she got feisty like that... Although he still had no clue on how to make her retract her claws and turn her into the gentle kitten again... but he would try. He needed a bite out of that apple after all.

* * *

The ringing of the school bell stirred him up and, remembering what the universe had in store for him right now, he grimaced as he slung his bag over his shoulder. But then he hesitated for a second; Snape was standing with his back to the room, wiping the blackboard clear with his wand. Maybe Draco could get out of here before the overgrown bat even noticed... He really had no intention to be alone with Snape and have him butting into his mind again. Quickly, he took a few steps and tried to blend in with the other students, who were just leaving the classroom, but before he could even reach the door, his legs started walking slower. They didn't listen to his command anymore and halted as he watched the door fall shut in his face. Snape turned around now, his wand in his hand and a serene smile on his face that told Draco how much trouble he really was in.

"Another feeble attempt to avoid me, Draco?" Snape asked him in his soft, taunting voice. "I noticed that you still haven't come to my office.."

Only for a second, Draco contemplated getting out his wand and undoing the spell, Snape had used on his legs. But it would be of no use anyway. He knew that the best way to deal with this was to shut his mind and not be provoked. And by now he really was a good enough Occlumens and so he let his mind be flooded by a wave of indifference and ease as Snape's black, tunnel-like eyes bored into him, determined to discover his secret.

"And I take it that what happened to Ronald Weasley had nothing to do with you as well, Draco?" Snape's thin-lipped mouth curled slightly in sarcasm as he spoke and he was twirling his wand in his fingers as if he was considering something.

Draco crossed his arms in front of his chest. He wouldn't give him anything.

"I hate to do this, Draco, as you very well know, but with your behaviour... You leave me no other choice. From today, I want weekly essays from you, nothing below five feet, on every topic we have gone through this year. And I'll know when it wasn't you, who did the work. Start with non-verbal spells.. Because else, I am afraid I cannot let you pass this year."

Draco let out a hollow laugh. Not pass this year? Big deal. As if that would cause him to worry.

"Also," Snape continued in an even lower voice, "if you don't take it seriously, I'll have you in detention.. And believe me, it would eat away at your precious time. Unless of course, you'll finally choose to let me help you, Draco."

The blonde boy merely sneered at Snape. He wouldn't let him win this. "Consider them delivered." He said haughtily and, finding his legs able to walk again, he quickly crossed the distance to the door, pushed it open and slammed it shut behind him. Merlin, how he had grown to hate that greasy-haired bastard! He wasn't entirely sure what Snape's real intentions were, but he didn't trust him.. It was obvious that he wanted climb higher in the ranks of the Death Eaters or he wouldn't have vowed to kill Dumbledore in case Draco failed. But this time, Draco knew that it would be best to simply concede and do what Snape had asked him to do. He had no time to rebel any longer..

* * *

His next lesson was about to start in a few minutes, but Professor Binns wouldn't take any notice of his absence anyway. So why even bother? And so Draco walked down to the dungeons, past the Potions classroom, and arrived in the Slytherin Common Room ten minutes later. He could still trace the clinical smell of the infirmary on his body and so he quickly ascended the stairs to his dormitory, which was completely empty at this time of day, and he tossed his robes aside as he continued to the bathroom.

After a long shower, he re-entered the dormitory and put on some freshly-laundered pants. Then he turned and looked into the full-length mirror, which stood against the wall. His pale reflection was staring back at him, a lot more battered-looking than he remembered it to be. Slowly Draco got closer. The scars on his face really weren't that bad. You could barely see them any more if you didn't know exactly what to look for. Only one of them, the one that ran across his lips, hadn't really faded yet.

He turned his face to the side and his eyes trailed down his throat and with every inch of skin the scars got more distinct until they reached his stomach and got fainter again. Draco's lips twisted a little now that he knew how bad it really looked.. Bloody Potter.. Now he was the one with the scarred face.

His eyes travelled down further and rested on the dark skull that was grinning evilly up at him from his forearm. And for a second Draco wished to have his old body back, untainted and undamaged. Before Potter's curse and the Dark Lord's Mark had touched him. But in some way, this was who he was now and who he had become. And his body only showed the traces of it. It wasn't pretty, of course not, but somehow Draco rather had these scars on his body than on his soul. He knew for the past months he had been walking through fire and who knew why, but it hadn't killed him yet. Maybe it was one of the Malfoy qualities: They always found a way to survive... and the wicked never died young...

And Draco knew that all of this fighting and struggling had made him stronger in a way. It had built his character. Screw that thing on his arm as long as he knew who he was! And he knew it now. He had found his place. It might have taken him some time, but he had. And now he was living again.

Suddenly the door to the dormitory flew open and Draco jumped back in surprise as he recognized Blaise's tall form out of the corner of his eyes. He cursed in his mind and swiftly crossed his arms in front of his chest, trying to hide the Dark Mark.

"Shouldn't you be in History?" he asked the dark boy.

Blaise didn't really answer at first, but walked over to his bed and opened the drawer of his chest and started rummaging inside it. Then he mumbled "I reckon, I learned a lesson from you and skipped it."

As inconspicuously as possible Draco tried to make his way over to his own trunk and knelt down in front of it to pull out a shirt, all the while keeping his left arm pressed tightly to his chest. Blaise didn't even turn to look as he said "Oh, don't bother, Malfoy. I know what you're trying to hide anyway.."

Alarmed, Draco stood up straight again, his shirt in his hand. "Did Jade tell you?"

Blaise let out a short snort. "Of course not. But it wasn't that hard to figure out on my own.. The long sleeves, the constant twitching whenever something came near your left arm..."

"You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

"I told Jade.." Blaise said, sounding a little grim. "And she failed to act surprised enough..."

Draco let his left arm fall to his side now and Blaise's eyes turned to linger on the dark spot on his skin. He stared at Draco as he sat down on his bed and a weird mix of emotions started travelling over his face.

"You know, Malfoy," he said after a moment of silence "if I ever really wanted to, I could take her away from you. I could break you apart."

Draco frowned. Blaise had threatened to do a lot of things already, but he had never threatened him with this. Something was weird about him today...

Blaise shook his head now and then he added silently "Please, don't make me do it."

Draco's frown deepened. His shirt still in his hand, he rounded his bed to stand next to the boy. Blaise wasn't looking at him. He was staring at the wall opposite of his bed with an expression on his face, Draco had never seen in all of their six years of school. His eyes were missing their usual glint and his face looked worn out. Blaise looked... well, he looked... heart-broken. A heart-broken Blaise. And it worried Draco slightly.

"Are you alright?" he asked him, not even expecting a real answer; but still he waited through the moment of silence and was immensely surprised as Blaise finally answered.

"How do you get Jade to forgive you every single time that you screwed it up?"

Well, that was most interesting... Draco threw his shirt onto his bed and sat down next to it, facing Blaise. For a second he contemplated whether he should give an honest answer, before he said "I think it's because she knows how much she means to me, despite everything I've done."

He regretted saying this immediately. It was much too honest.. and much too private. He bit down on his lip, annoyed with himself.

Blaise shook his head; apparently this answer did not help him. "But if you're not that far yet?"

This time Draco thought about his answer more properly. "A sincere apology always is a good start."

Now Blaise's gaze flicked onto his face. "How sincere is sincere?"

"How serious is it to you?" Draco asked back. Blaise's eyes fell to the floor and a flash of pain darkened his face.

"And," Draco added, "how dumb is she?"

This time Blaise's slanted eyes shot up again, glaring angrily at Draco, who had to chuckle. "Then maybe you should be on your sincerest behaviour."

Blaise groaned and there was another moment of silence. Then he asked, as if the words were wrung out of him against his will, "But... it is kind of.. scary, isn't it?"

Draco let out a laugh. "Blaise, nothing will ever be scarier than the moment right after you told the girl how you feel for her. Nothing. Not even getting one of these." He mimicked down to his left forearm.

But Blaise shook his head again. "I guess I can't." He shrugged.

In a way, Draco was completely baffled with Blaise's behaviour. They had never shared a real conversation until today and he really was the last person, he had ever expected Blaise to come to talk to. Yet here he was and the strained expression on the boy's face somehow had made Draco stay. But he couldn't quite think of words that might help him. He wasn't used to giving advice. After all, nobody ever asked him for it.. No surprise there, really..

"Maybe you should talk to Jade about it." He finally said, coming to the conclusion that the girl might be the only one, who could help. "She's a good listener and I think she might be giving much more reasonable advice than I am..."

Blaise simply shook his head. "I can't talk to her... She knows me better than I know myself and I think she understands me so well that sometimes she can't understand me at all. Her mind is so bloody clear all the time. And frankly, it's good to talk to someone, whose head is just as messed up as mine is."

Draco let out another deep chuckle. Somehow he found Blaise extremely entertaining today and actually, the boy had a point. Because Draco knew from experience that being left alone, with his mind, was actually quite dangerous.

"Well, my advice is to take the leap." Draco said as he stood up and pulled his shirt over his head. It had a few buttons down the v-shaped neckline and he buttoned them all up, so nobody could see his scars. "I never regretted it once. In fact," he added as he continued to get dressed, "I'm just on my way to take another one right now... Jade has had enough time to lick her wounds; I think it's my turn to lick them for her again."

Blaise snorted, but he was laughing the same time. "You are deeply disturbed."

"And here I thought that was what made you talk to me in the first place." He grinned as he shot another glance in the mirror, ran a hand through his hair and looked onto his watch. "I need to go. See you later, Blaise."

"Good luck, Draco."

* * *

The dungeons were completely abandoned as he made his way up to the Entrance Hall again. He could only hear the faint dripping sound of droplets of water on the stone floor and his own footsteps on the ground as he walked through the cold and clammy hallways of the dungeons. He couldn't help but wonder about Blaise and he still had no idea what to make of their talk. He had never considered Blaise an enemy, but he had never considered him a real friend either. And even though they had slept in the same dormitory and spent a lot of their time in each other's presence, he somehow had the feeling that he didn't know the boy at all. He was terribly difficult to see through and didn't offer the world a tiny bit of guidance in discovering his true character. And today he had shown Draco a completely different side of him and he had a feeling that not even Jade had seen Blaise like that. He wasn't exactly sure about which girl he had even talked, but he supposed it was this younger Gryffindor.. Well, it would be definitely interesting to watch Blaise handle this. He had no idea what the boy was so terribly afraid of...

His hands in the pockets of his slacks, Draco made his way up to the Transfiguration Wing on fourth floor, aware that Jade had her last class of the day with Professor McGonagall. He was a little early and so he sat down on a little stone bench in the shadows of a rusty suit of armour as his brain quickly tried to decide how to approach this.

A few minutes later, the door to the classroom was flung open and the seventh-years slowly emerged from the room. Jade was one of the last to leave, encircled in a group of Ravenclaw boys, and Draco heard their chattering as they started to walk into the opposite direction.

"Roger, wait a second," he heard her say as she stopped to search her bag for something, "I must have left my book in the Tower this morning. I'll go get it real quick and meet you in the library.. Should only take a few minutes..."

"Alright, but hurry up. I got training later.."

Jade nodded and then she turned and started walking into Draco's direction alone.. How convenient.. At first it appeared as if she hadn't seen him yet, but then she walked straight past him and Draco knew that she must have seen him, but apparently chose to ignore him. Swiftly, he stood up and turned to follow her down the corridor and it wasn't long until Jade halted in her step. She had reached the small tapestry, behind which lay the hidden short-cut, Draco had shown her nearly two years ago. She lingered there for a moment as she pulled out her wand and Draco had enough time to approach her. He was finally standing right behind her as Jade turned to look over her shoulder. The expression in her dark eyes was inscrutable, but he could see her nostrils flaring slightly and her lips open.

"Stalk me much, Malfoy?" Her voice sounded a lot softer than he had expected and her words made him smirk.

"Oh, it's Malfoy now, is it?" he whispered and leaned closer, his arms came around her to rest on either side of the tapestry. He wanted to touch her, but Jade didn't hesitate and tapped the tapestry with her wand and it gave way to the hidden staircase. Without saying another word they made their way up the many stairs and this time Jade didn't miss the trick step.

When they had finally reached sixth-floor, Draco quickened his pace to catch up with her. "Jade, we need to talk."

She stopped in her step and started turning towards him, but before she could even answer, voices and footsteps could be heard from the other end of the hallway. Jade's head spun around into the direction of the noises as Draco reacted instinctively; he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her with him through the next door he could reach. It was leading into the Trophy room and Jade pushed away from him as soon as they were inside to walk further into the chamber, while Draco locked the door behind them.

He followed her slowly and watched how she walked around the many crystal glass displays of trophies, cups and medals, finally coming to a halt next to one of them. She looked back at him, leaning slightly against the cabinet and behind her, Draco could still see the top of a large, golden trophy towering over Jade's head in its glass case. And as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, he could make out the name that was engraved upon it. '_Alasdair Heywood'_ .. Something tugged at his heart as he saw the girl standing in front of it alone. It had been Jade's father. And it was clearly no coincidence that she had chosen this spot to face him.

He still couldn't read the expression on her face as she looked back at him; but whatever it was, what was going on inside her mind, Draco knew that it was a dangerous mix.

She tilted her head a little to the side as she watched him and he couldn't help but see the slightly predatory look in her eyes as she was fixing her gaze on him. Merlin, those eyes of hers.. For a moment they made him unable to find a real start to his story. He knew that the truth was probably going to sound even lamer than some insincere excuse...

"Jade, I never lied to you." He finally said. "Whatever happened that night with Pansy, I promise I can't remember anything. I only admitted to it, because I could see in her eyes that she wasn't lying to me and I knew that it was the only way to get her off my back.."

Jade raised one of her perfectly-arched eyebrows. She didn't look very impressed with his words. "You never remembered it?" Her voice made it clear that she was not buying a word of what he had said.

"Well, I was asleep, when she came in.. It was the night of Slughorn's Party. I was fully on Jade-mode and had drunken a considerable amount of firewhiskey to drown those images from my mind... I promise you, I can't remember it. I didn't talk to her for months, because I didn't believe her either.."

"You know, Draco" Jade said now and he cursed inwardly as he heard the sarcastic tone of her voice, aware of what was to come now. "That sounds totally reasonable. I do that all the time, too. Creep into Neville's bed at night and have sex with him. The poor bloke just can't seem to remember it!"

"I didn't have sex..." Draco started to protest, but then he hesitated, "Wait, did you just compare me to Longbottom?"

She let out an annoyed hiss, pushed away from the cabinet, she had been leaning against, and started to walk away from him.

"Jade, come on..."

She swirled around to face him again, but continued walking backwards. "Oh, do you think this is funny? Because I really don't!"

"Will you stop running away from me? !" Draco took a large step forward and caught her around her wrist, pulling her back. She didn't struggle against him this time, but it sounded very much like a threat as she said "Let go of me!"

"What? Are you going to slap me again?" His voice rose a little now.

"No. Are you going to break my wrist again?" She shot back angrily.

For a second there was silence between them and Draco let go of her hand with a feeling as if someone had just punched him forcefully in the stomach. He hated to be remembered of this. It was one of his most horrible memories. His eyes trailed over to the trophy of Jade's father and somehow he felt incredibly ashamed. And he felt exhausted. He knew that it was his fault that things with Jade had become so complicated, but he longed to just speed through this and hold her in his arms again. Usually, Draco never had been one to scare away from fighting and animosity, but not with Jade. She was the one person, he always wanted to have by his side.

Even though he had let go of her, Jade didn't walk away. She was still looking up at him and her face softened. "I'm sorry." She said. "I didn't mean that."

Draco shook his head as their eyes met again. "Jade, just use Legilimency on me and see for yourself. I'd let you.. I trust you."

For a second she just considered him, her head a little inclined, and her voice was calm again as she said "I don't need any spell to see you are telling the truth."

"So you believe me?"

She nodded. And then Draco took a step closer towards her, noticing how she shrank back imperceptibly... So she still hadn't really forgiven him... It made Draco turn to his last resort.

"Jade, I didn't tell you that I loved you, because I thought it sounded funny." He said in a voice that sounded deeper and less raspy than usual.

"I didn't either." She answered silently.

"Then what are we doing?"

She shook her head and gave a gentle shrug, biting down on her lower lip. "I don't know."

He reached out his hand and gently cupped the side of her head, his fingers sinking into her soft hair. But he noticed how her eyes fell to the floor as she tilted her head a little away from him. She didn't like it. With the bitter feeling of rejection, Draco pulled his hand back again.

But now the urge to touch her once more was even stronger than before. He took another little step closer towards her and Jade, who was standing with her back tightly pressed against one of the glass cabinets by now, didn't move this time; her eyes were still fixed on a spot on the ground.

"Draco, the others are waiting for me.."

She really wanted to get away from him, didn't she? But he wouldn't let her..

Slowly he lowered his face until his forehead was resting against hers. He felt her soft breathing against his throat as he lingered there for a moment. His hands were aching to touch her, but he knew it would be wrong to give in. He moved his face a little, his nose lightly touching hers, and then he felt how she brought her hands up to rest them against his chest. He couldn't quite tell if she was pushing him away or if she was holding onto him, but he raised his left hand to place it above hers. His fingers started moving down her right arm and as they travelled over her wrist, he couldn't help but be remembered of how he had hurt her again. And following a sudden need, he turned his face to the side and raised her small fist up to his lips, beginning to trace small kisses around her wrist.

At first Jade merely watched him as he slowly kissed his way over her skin, but then she opened her hand and her fingers grazed his jaw line softly. Something inside him stirred in triumph at her touch and he turned to rest his forehead against hers again. His left hand was still holding hers and his right came up now to move underneath her hair and hold the back of her neck. He lowered his face and closed his eyes and his lips had barely brushed hers, when Jade pulled her head back a little and he couldn't reach her anymore. He suppressed a frustrated moan.

In all his life one of his characteristics had always sustained: if he wanted something and he couldn't get it right away, he only became more obsessed with having it. And so his nose touched hers again, a little more demanding this time. He knew he could just tilt her head back up and kiss her, but he didn't want to. He wanted her to give herself freely to him.

He pulled her right hand, which was still resting in his, further up and lay it around the back of his neck; but as soon as he had let go of it, Jade let it fall down again to push slightly against his chest.

A wave of frustration washed over Draco. He couldn't get this girl to kiss him. He knew she just wouldn't.

He exhaled a breath as he opened his eyes again and pulled away from her, his gaze resting for a second on her full, pink lips. His other hand that was still holding her neck travelled down her skin, before he completely let go of her.

"Can we meet tonight?" he asked her.

"I have an Astronomy lesson at ten.." She answered silently. "But maybe after I got out of the library? The Ravenclaws have their practice at nine, so I'll leave with them.."

Jade wasn't looking into his eyes as she spoke and Draco had the vague feeling that she was trying to swindle in order to avoid him tonight.

"When do you _really_ have your Astronomy lesson?" he asked her and saw how a guilty smile appeared on her lips.

"At midnight.." she said meekly.

"And when do the Ravenclaws really have their practice?" he asked, raising one of his brows inquiringly.

Jade bit down on her lip as she bowed her head in apparent guilt. "At six.." She looked up at him shyly through her long-lashed eyes, apparently in shame that she had tried to trick him, and Draco couldn't help but chuckle, thinking she looked extremely cute with that guilty smile of hers. He felt the strong need to kiss her again, but he decided against it.. Later...

"Then I see you at six?" he asked her. She was still smiling as she nodded and Draco added, in a much stricter voice "And you'll stay until midnight!"

Jade laughed now and somehow the sound of it made every fibre of his body relax. If the girl was laughing, he had done everything right...

"I really have to go now, Draco. The boys must be waiting and I still need to get my book.."

He merely nodded and as they turned to leave the room together, he said "I think I'll be paying the library a quick visit as well. Snape is forcing me to write weekly essays.. Better get that over with quickly."

Jade smiled. "You really have a way with the professors, don't you?"

They had reached a cross-way at the end of the hallway, where their routes were parting, and before she walked away, she turned and gave him one last smile. "See you later, Draco."

He watched her turn and walk down the corridor, before he tore his eyes away and made his way down to the library.

* * *

Hours later Draco still was brooding over his five feet long scroll of parchment. Even though the library was brimming with students, he had a table of his own, one of the only vantages that came along with being the son of a convicted Death Eater. Books were piled in high staples around him as he did the last finishing touches on his essay, his eyes travelling through the library from time to time.

He had watched Jade enter shortly after him and she had walked straight to the end of the library, where the seventh-years always studied. It was nearing six now and Draco had just written his last sentence, when he heard a group of students making their way through the rows of bookshelves. His gaze shot up as they approached and he recognized the three Ravenclaw boys from earlier, Jade in their midst.

He couldn't help but glower at Roger Davies as he put down his quill. The boy obviously noticed and he nudged his two friends in the sides as they came closer.

"Well, well. If that isn't Draco Malfoy himself. Good to see that you're finally doing something to exercise that shrivelled-up brain of yours." He sneered at him; his two friends by his side grinning smugly at his words.

Draco set up his trademark smirk and rolled up his scroll of parchment casually. "Well, I'm sorry to see that you're still searching for something to exercise that shrivelled-up _stick_ of yours." Only Draco hadn't actually said '_stick_'.

He could see Jade pursing her lips as she tried to hide a grin and a glint came to his grey eyes; he loved having a pretty audience. Davies, on the other hand, was looking as if he had just tasted something very bitter.

"Oh, you're one to talk.. But I guess we'll see on Saturday... Or will you wimp out again like a little _witch_?" Davies hadn't really said '_witch_' either.

Draco's smirk intensified. He hadn't forgotten about the match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, he only hadn't found a real reason to play until now.. He would crush Davies on the pitch.. And so he shrugged, carelessly. "You and your troop of losers aren't a real threat for Slytherin anyway.."

Davies was just opening his mouth for a retort, when Jade stepped in. She was grinning slyly as she said. "Boys.. Why even get so worked up about it? Gryffindor will take the cup anyway.." and then she added "Like every year.." with a superior expression on her face. It quickly turned into a full laugh as she watched the reaction of the two boys.

"Oh, please.." said the Slytherin, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, that's preposterous!" agreed the Ravenclaw. "Your last game was a mess!"

"And Potter has absolutely no clue on how to control his own team!"

"Although, I have to say.." Davies said to Jade, getting a little closer towards her, "that I'm looking forward to meeting you on the pitch again. It'll be the last game of the season and trust me, darling, I won't be going easy on you."

Draco narrowed his eyes as he watched the other boy. Was he really trying to flirt with _his_ girlfriend right in front of his face?

Davies hesitated for a second, still watching Jade, and then he said "Your eyes look amazing today.. Did you do something different to them?"

A heavy frown came over Draco's face and he twisted his lips in disdain as his eyes burned a hole into the back of Davies' skull. That greasy slimeball... He didn't know anything about Jade's eyes... He felt the strong urge to grab one of his books and smack that git across the head with it.

Jade was laughing by now, probably more about the nasty expression on Draco's face than about Davies' lousy attempts to charm her.

"Nothing at all.." she said.

"Merlin, you really are a natural beauty, aren't you?" Davies laughed and then he reached out his arm to lift a strand of Jade's hair.

Something inside Draco was hissing in contempt as he watched Davies push Jade's hair back behind her shoulder. He would bloody kill him... Nobody ever was to touch her hair except for him! It was his! She was his! Only for him to be touched! But this disgusting piece of filth was fingering her now. And Draco wanted nothing more than to curse him for it... to use that _Entrail-Expelling Curse_ on that bastard..and see him endure excruciating pain.

The slimy git took a step back now and said to his friends "Well, we'd better hurry up or we'll be late for practice.. Jade, can you return the books on your own?"

"Of course." She nodded.

"Thanks, love." Davies said and gave her a quick hug, before he started walking away with his two friends.

Draco was staring after the boy viciously; his eyes only flicked briefly over to Jade, who was still standing there with two library books in her arms, and then he pushed his hands into the pockets of his robes, taking hold of his wand, and walked after Davies.

He heard quick steps behind him and only a second later, Jade had looped her arm through his and pulled him with her behind one of the many bookshelves.

"No, you're not.." she was laughing as she dragged him along with her.

The only words, which were currently flying through his mind, were curse words and insults and so he stayed silent as he let Jade drag him across the library, finally coming to a halt in front of one of the many shelves. She was still smiling as she turned to look at him, but then her smile faltered. "Are you mad at me?"

Her question startled him. Apparently the mean glare that was still on his face had made her think that he was angry with her. He shook his head and couldn't help, but reach out an arm and touch the piece of hair, Davies had fumbled with. It still felt as soft and clean as it always did, but nevertheless an irritated expression came over his face. He had always hated it when someone had touched one of his personal belongings. He never let anyone fly on his broom and everybody knew that his wand was never to be touched. And with Jade it was even worse...

Not that stupid Roger Davies was anything to be worried about.. But still it annoyed him immensely. And sometimes he wished that everybody knew that Jade belonged to him.. Nobody would ever dare to touch her then..

He smirked as a very new thought came to his mind and his eyes trailed down her left hand.. He could picture a certain something there quite nicely.. not in the near future, of course... But one day everybody would know. He would make it a point to survive through this mess only to show every little Roger Davies in the country that the most beautiful girl, out of all of them, was already his.

"So, I see you in half an hour up in our room?" Jade asked him and stirred him up from his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'll be there." He said and saw how she smiled back at him and took a few steps to walk past him. He couldn't resist snaking out an arm and pulling her a little closer to place a quick kiss on her forehead. She was still smiling as she took his hand in hers. And she held it as she walked away until the distance between them was more than both of their arms could bridge. He let go of her and watched how she disappeared in between the bookshelves with one last glance back at him.

And Draco nodded to himself.. Yes, definitely the most beautiful...


End file.
